Euphorbia oblongata |
Euphorbia texana |
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Balkan spurge, egg-leaf spurge, oblong spurge |
Texas spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, with woody taproot. | Herbs, annual, with taproot. |
Stems | erect, unbranched or densely branching, 80 cm, often densely villous (especially young stems and pleiochasial branches). |
erect or ascending, unbranched or branched, sometimes extensively at crown, 7–20 cm, glabrous. |
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. |
petiole 0–0.2 mm; blade oblanceolate to oblong-oblanceolate, 8–15 × 2–5 mm, base usually attenuate, occasionally cuneate, margins crenulate distally, apex rounded to obtuse, bluntly mucronate, surfaces glabrous; venation pinnate, midvein prominent. |
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. |
hemispheric, 0.5–0.9 × 0.6–1 mm, glabrous; glands (4–)5, elongate reniform, 0.1–0.3 × 0.3–0.5 mm; horns absent. |
Staminate flowers | 15–40. |
5. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 1.5–2 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.8–1 mm, 2-fid. |
Capsules | globose, 3–4.5 × 3–4.5 mm, slightly 3-lobed; cocci rounded, verrucose-tuberculate, glabrous; columella 2.5–3.3 mm. |
depressed-globose, 1.6–2 × 2.5–3 mm, 3-lobed; cocci rounded, smooth, glabrous; columella 1.2–1.5 mm. |
Seeds | brown, ovoid, 2.4–2.6 × 1.3–2 mm, smooth, caruncle reniform, 0.2–0.3 × 0.8–0.9 mm. |
brownish black, globose-lenticular, 1.4–1.5 × 1.3–1.4 mm, finely reticulate or areolate with distinct line on back; caruncle low conic, 0.4 × 0.5 mm. |
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. |
arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches 3, each 1–3 times 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts similar in shape and size to distal leaves; dichasial bracts distinct, elliptic to ovate, base acute to ± truncate, margins crenate distally, apex obtuse to rounded and mucronate; axillary cymose branches 1–3. |
Cyathia | peduncle 1–5 mm. |
peduncle 0.3–0.6 mm. |
Euphorbia oblongata |
Euphorbia texana |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. | Flowering and fruiting spring. |
Habitat | Waste areas, disturbed sites, roadsides, fields, pastures. | Open ground, prairies. |
Elevation | 30–900 m. (100–3000 ft.) | 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; OR; WA; s Europe [Introduced in North America]
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LA; TX |
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 texana is related to E. alta and E. spathulata, but differs from both of those species in its smooth capsules. It is endemic to southeastern Texas and adjacent Louisiana. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 305. | FNA vol. 12, p. 311. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Tithymalus oblongatus | E. dictyosperma var. leiococca, E. leiococca |
Name authority | Grisebach: Spic. Fl. Rumel. 1: 136. (1843) | Boissier: Cent. Euphorb., 30. (1860) |
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