Euphorbia ocellata |
Euphorbia velleriflora |
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Contura Creek sandmat, Contura Creek spurge, valley spurge |
Caliche sandmat |
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Habit | Herbs, annual, with taproot. | Herbs, perennial, with strongly thickened and lignified rootstock. | ||||
Stems | prostrate, 10–35 cm, glabrous or pilose. |
prostrate, usually mat-forming, terete to slightly flattened and winged, to 30 cm, villous to pilose. |
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Leaves | opposite; stipules distinct, subulate, 0.5–1.6 mm, glabrous or pilose; petiole 0.3–2 mm, glabrous or pilose; blade ovate to deltate or falcate, 2.3–13 × 1.5–6 mm, base asymmetric, usually cordate, rarely rounded, margins occasionally reddish, entire, often revolute, apex acute to obtuse, occasionally mucronate, surfaces glabrous or pilose; midvein conspicuous, lateral veins frequently visible abaxially. |
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. |
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Involucre | campanulate, 1–2.5 × 1.3–2.4 mm, glabrous or pilose; glands 4, yellow becoming deep red, elliptic or oblong to orbiculate, 0.4–0.6 × 0.5–0.7 mm; appendages absent or whitish, orbiculate, 0.1–0.2 × 0.3–0.5 mm, distal margin entire. |
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. |
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Staminate flowers | 30–70. |
8–12. |
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Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous or pilose; styles 0.4–0.5 mm, 2-fid at apex. |
ovary villous; styles 0.2–0.4(–0.5) mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
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Capsules | subglobose to broadly ovoid, 1.4–2.7 × 1.9–3.1 mm, glabrous or pilose; columella 1.4–2 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. |
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Seeds | whitish gray to black, ovoid to oblong, terete to bluntly subangled in cross section, 1.1–1.7 × 0.8–1.3 mm, rugose or smooth. |
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. |
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Cyathia | solitary at distal nodes; peduncle 0.9–2.2 mm. |
solitary at distal nodes or at nodes of leafy, congested, axillary branches; peduncle 1–1.5(–2.5) mm. |
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Euphorbia ocellata |
Euphorbia velleriflora |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting summer. | |||||
Habitat | Disturbed habitats, particularly roadsides, grasslands, live oak-thorn scrub. | |||||
Elevation | 50–80 m. (200–300 ft.) | |||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; ID; NV; UT
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TX; Mexico; Central America (Guatemala) [Introduced in North America] |
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Discussion | Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora). (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.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 279. | FNA vol. 12, p. 292. | ||||
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Chamaesyce ocellata | Anisophyllum velleriflorum, Chamaesyce velleriflora | ||||
Name authority | Durand & Hilgard: Pl. Heermann., 46. (1854) | (Klotzsch & Garcke) Boissier: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 15(2): 40. (1862) | ||||
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