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Balkan spurge, egg-leaf spurge, oblong spurge

Caliche sandmat

Habit Herbs, perennial, with woody taproot. Herbs, perennial, with strongly thickened and lignified rootstock.
Stems

erect, unbranched or densely branching, 80 cm, often densely villous (especially young stems and pleiochasial branches).

prostrate, usually mat-forming, terete to slightly flattened and winged, to 30 cm, villous to pilose.

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 or connate at base, 2-fid to laciniate into 2–5 linear to subulate divisions, 0.5–1(–2) mm, glabrous or villous;

petiole 0.5–2 mm, villous;

blade usually ovate to oblong, rarely suborbiculate, 5–13 × 4–8 mm, base asymmetric, hemicordate, margins serrulate, apex obtuse, surfaces villous; 3-veined from base, usually 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.

turbinate, 0.9–1.4 × 0.7–1.1 mm, villous;

glands 4, pink, oblong to reniform, 0.1–0.2 × 0.3–0.4 mm;

appendages white to pink, flabellate, ovate, or oblong, 0.3–0.5 × 0.4–0.7 mm, distal margin entire, crenulate, or erose, often puberulent-ciliate.

Staminate flowers

15–40.

8–12.

Pistillate flowers

ovary glabrous;

styles 1.5–2 mm, 2-fid.

ovary villous;

styles 0.2–0.4(–0.5) mm, 2-fid 1/2 length.

Capsules

globose, 3–4.5 × 3–4.5 mm, slightly 3-lobed;

cocci rounded, verrucose-tuberculate, glabrous;

columella 2.5–3.3 mm.

broadly ovoid, 1.5–1.9 × 1.3–1.7 mm, villous (uniformly so, but most pronounced toward base and along keels);

columella 1.2–1.4 mm.

Seeds

brown, ovoid, 2.4–2.6 × 1.3–2 mm, smooth, caruncle reniform, 0.2–0.3 × 0.8–0.9 mm.

white to gray or pink, narrowly pyramidal-ovoid, 4-angled in cross section, 1.1–1.3 × 0.4–0.6 mm, rugulose with shallow depressions separated by inconspicuous transverse ridges.

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.

Cyathia

peduncle 1–5 mm.

solitary at distal nodes or at nodes of leafy, congested, axillary branches;

peduncle 1–1.5(–2.5) mm.

Euphorbia oblongata

Euphorbia velleriflora

Phenology Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. Flowering and fruiting summer.
Habitat Waste areas, disturbed sites, roadsides, fields, pastures. Disturbed habitats, particularly roadsides, grasslands, live oak-thorn scrub.
Elevation 30–900 m. (100–3000 ft.) 50–80 m. (200–300 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR; WA; s Europe [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
TX; Mexico; Central America (Guatemala) [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
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 velleriflora is native and widespread from northern Mexico to Guatemala. The species is apparently a recent introduction in southern Texas (W. R. Carr and M. H. Mayfield 1993), as the first records are from the 1990s. It is also expected in southern Arizona due to the presence of collections made a few kilometers south of the border in the Mexican state of Sonora. Euphorbia velleriflora is very similar to E. stictospora, and the two are sometimes confused. The two can be readily distinguished on the basis of their styles: unbranched in E. stictospora and 2-fid in E. velleriflora. Also, the involucral gland appendages of E. velleriflora are ciliate with short hairs, whereas those of E. stictospora are glabrous.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 12, p. 305. FNA vol. 12, p. 292.
Parent taxa Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum
Sibling taxa
E. aaron-rossii, E. abramsiana, E. acuta, E. agraria, E. albomarginata, E. alta, E. angusta, E. antisyphilitica, E. arizonica, E. astyla, E. austrotexana, E. bicolor, E. bifurcata, E. bilobata, E. blodgettii, E. bombensis, E. brachycera, E. capitellata, E. carunculata, E. chaetocalyx, E. chamaesula, E. cinerascens, E. commutata, E. conferta, E. cordifolia, E. corollata, E. crenulata, E. cumulicola, E. cuphosperma, E. curtisii, E. cyathophora, E. cyparissias, E. davidii, E. deltoidea, E. dendroides, E. dentata, E. discoidalis, E. eriantha, E. exigua, E. exserta, E. exstipulata, E. falcata, E. fendleri, E. florida, E. floridana, E. garberi, E. georgiana, E. geyeri, E. glyptosperma, E. golondrina, E. gracillima, E. graminea, E. helioscopia, E. helleri, E. heterophylla, E. hexagona, E. hirta, E. hooveri, E. humistrata, E. hypericifolia, E. hyssopifolia, E. indivisa, E. innocua, E. inundata, E. ipecacuanhae, E. jaegeri, E. jejuna, E. laredana, E. lasiocarpa, E. lata, E. lathyris, E. longicruris, E. lurida, E. macropus, E. maculata, E. marginata, E. meganaesos, E. melanadenia, E. mendezii, E. mercurialina, E. mesembrianthemifolia, E. micromera, E. misera, E. missurica, E. myrsinites, E. nephradenia, E. nutans, E. ocellata, E. ophthalmica, E. ouachitana, E. parishii, E. parryi, E. pediculifera, E. peplidion, E. peplus, E. perennans, E. pergamena, E. pinetorum, E. platyphyllos, E. platysperma, E. polycarpa, E. polygonifolia, E. polyphylla, E. porteriana, E. prostrata, E. pubentissima, E. purpurea, E. radians, E. rayturneri, E. revoluta, E. roemeriana, E. rosescens, E. schizoloba, E. serpens, E. serpillifolia, E. serrata, E. serrula, E. setiloba, E. simulans, E. spathulata, E. stictospora, E. strictior, E. telephioides, E. terracina, E. tetrapora, E. texana, E. theriaca, E. thymifolia, E. tithymaloides, E. trachysperma, E. trichotoma, E. vallis-mortae, E. velleriflora, E. vermiculata, E. villifera, E. virgata, E. wrightii, E. yaquiana
E. aaron-rossii, E. abramsiana, E. acuta, E. agraria, E. albomarginata, E. alta, E. angusta, E. antisyphilitica, E. arizonica, E. astyla, E. austrotexana, E. bicolor, E. bifurcata, E. bilobata, E. blodgettii, E. bombensis, E. brachycera, E. capitellata, E. carunculata, E. chaetocalyx, E. chamaesula, E. cinerascens, E. commutata, E. conferta, E. cordifolia, E. corollata, E. crenulata, E. cumulicola, E. cuphosperma, E. curtisii, E. cyathophora, E. cyparissias, E. davidii, E. deltoidea, E. dendroides, E. dentata, E. discoidalis, E. eriantha, E. exigua, E. exserta, E. exstipulata, E. falcata, E. fendleri, E. florida, E. floridana, E. garberi, E. georgiana, E. geyeri, E. glyptosperma, E. golondrina, E. gracillima, E. graminea, E. helioscopia, E. helleri, E. heterophylla, E. hexagona, E. hirta, E. hooveri, E. humistrata, E. hypericifolia, E. hyssopifolia, E. indivisa, E. innocua, E. inundata, E. ipecacuanhae, E. jaegeri, E. jejuna, E. laredana, E. lasiocarpa, E. lata, E. lathyris, E. longicruris, E. lurida, E. macropus, E. maculata, E. marginata, E. meganaesos, E. melanadenia, E. mendezii, E. mercurialina, E. mesembrianthemifolia, E. micromera, E. misera, E. missurica, E. myrsinites, E. nephradenia, E. nutans, E. oblongata, E. ocellata, E. ophthalmica, E. ouachitana, E. parishii, E. parryi, E. pediculifera, E. peplidion, E. peplus, E. perennans, E. pergamena, E. pinetorum, E. platyphyllos, E. platysperma, E. polycarpa, E. polygonifolia, E. polyphylla, E. porteriana, E. prostrata, E. pubentissima, E. purpurea, E. radians, E. rayturneri, E. revoluta, E. roemeriana, E. rosescens, E. schizoloba, E. serpens, E. serpillifolia, E. serrata, E. serrula, E. setiloba, E. simulans, E. spathulata, E. stictospora, E. strictior, E. telephioides, E. terracina, E. tetrapora, E. texana, E. theriaca, E. thymifolia, E. tithymaloides, E. trachysperma, E. trichotoma, E. vallis-mortae, E. vermiculata, E. villifera, E. virgata, E. wrightii, E. yaquiana
Synonyms Tithymalus oblongatus Anisophyllum velleriflorum, Chamaesyce velleriflora
Name authority Grisebach: Spic. Fl. Rumel. 1: 136. (1843) (Klotzsch & Garcke) Boissier: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 15(2): 40. (1862)
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