Euphorbia oblongata |
Euphorbia rayturneri |
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Balkan spurge, egg-leaf spurge, oblong spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, with woody taproot. | Herbs, annual, with slender taproot. |
Stems | erect, unbranched or densely branching, 80 cm, often densely villous (especially young stems and pleiochasial branches). |
prostrate, 4–8 cm, uniformly strigillose. |
Leaves | petiole absent; blade oblong to narrowly obovate or lanceolate, 15–70 × 6–25 mm, base rounded or truncate, margins finely serrulate, apex obtuse, mucronulate, surfaces glabrous; venation inconspicuously pinnate, midvein prominent. |
opposite; stipules distinct, filiform, 0.6–0.9 mm, pilose; petiole 0.5–0.9 mm, strigillose; blade ovate to elliptic, often slightly falcate, 5–11 × 2–5 mm, base asymmetric, one side cordate, other round to attenuate, margins sharply serrulate, apex acute, surfaces often with red spot toward middle, abaxial surface strigillose, adaxial surface glabrescent; only midvein conspicuous. |
Involucre | cupulate to slightly turbinate, 1.5–2.5 × 1.3–1.5 mm, glabrous; glands 2–3, elliptic, 0.6–0.8 × 0.8–1.2 mm; horns absent. |
obconic, 0.9–1.2 × 0.8–1.2 mm, strigillose; glands 4, green, yellow, or light pink, circular to oblong, 0.2 × 0.2–0.3 mm; appendages absent or green, yellow, or light pink, forming narrow margin on distal portion of gland, 0–0.1 × 0.2–0.3 mm, distal margin entire. |
Staminate flowers | 15–40. |
5–8. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 1.5–2 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary strigillose-canescent; styles 0.3–0.4 mm, unbranched. |
Capsules | globose, 3–4.5 × 3–4.5 mm, slightly 3-lobed; cocci rounded, verrucose-tuberculate, glabrous; columella 2.5–3.3 mm. |
oblate, 1.7–2 × 2.2–2.7 mm, strigillose; columella 1.5–1.9 mm. |
Seeds | brown, ovoid, 2.4–2.6 × 1.3–2 mm, smooth, caruncle reniform, 0.2–0.3 × 0.8–0.9 mm. |
blackish brown, broadly ovoid, 3-angled in cross section, 1.2–1.4 × 1–1.1 mm, with 2 well-defined transverse ridges that do not pass through abaxial keel. |
Cyathial | arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches 3–5, each 2–3 times 2–4-branched; pleiochasial bracts ovate, similar in size to distal leaves; dichasial bracts distinct, ovate to suborbiculate, base truncate or rounded, margins entire or finely denticulate, apex obtuse, sometimes mucronulate; axillary cymose branches 0–4. |
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Cyathia | peduncle 1–5 mm. |
solitary at distal nodes; peduncle 0.5–1.6 mm. |
2n | = 14. |
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Euphorbia oblongata |
Euphorbia rayturneri |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. | Flowering and fruiting late summer–early fall. |
Habitat | Waste areas, disturbed sites, roadsides, fields, pastures. | Desert grasslands. |
Elevation | 30–900 m. (100–3000 ft.) | 1400–1700 m. (4600–5600 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; OR; WA; s Europe [Introduced in North America]
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NM |
Discussion | Euphorbia oblongata is listed as a noxious weed by the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Euphorbia rayturneri is known from only three collections in extreme southwestern New Mexico. Given its close proximity to the Mexican border, the species may also occur in the adjacent states of Chihuahua or Sonora. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 305. | FNA vol. 12, p. 286. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Tithymalus oblongatus | |
Name authority | Grisebach: Spic. Fl. Rumel. 1: 136. (1843) | V. W. Steinmann & Jercinovic: Novon 22: 482, figs. 1, 2. (2013) |
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