Euphorbia polyphylla |
Euphorbia astyla |
|
---|---|---|
lesser Florida spurge |
alkali spurge, Pecos spurge |
|
Habit | Herbs, perennial, with spreading rootstock. | Herbs, perennial, with woody or fibrous-fleshy taproot, 5–12 mm thick. |
Stems | erect or ascending, branched, solitary, few, or occasionally densely clumped, previous year's dead stems not persistent, 18–33 cm, glabrous. |
decumbent, ascending, or erect, few to many emerging from woody crown, 5–25(–50) cm, glabrous. |
Leaves | alternate; stipules to 0.1 mm; petiole minute or absent; blade linear to filiform, 10–20 × 0.8–1.5(–4) mm, base cuneate, margins entire, often involute, apex rounded, surfaces glabrous; venation usually obscure, midvein visible at base of wider leaves. |
opposite; stipules connate into deltate scale, 0.2–0.5 mm, minutely lacerate at apex, glabrous; petiole 0–0.2(–0.3) mm, glabrous; blade orbiculate-reniform to acute-cordate, 2–5(–8) × 2–5(–6) mm, base ± asymmetric, cordate to auriculate, sometimes clasping stem, margins entire, apex narrowly acute, surfaces glabrous; 2- or 3-veined from base, but usually only midvein conspicuous. |
Involucre | campanulate, 1.2–2 × 1.3–1.8 mm, glabrous or strigose on distal extreme; glands 5, red, elliptic, 0.5 × 1 mm; appendages white, orbiculate, 0.5–0.8 × 1.3–1.5 mm, erose. |
broadly campanulate, 0.8–1.4 × 0.9–1.4 mm, glabrous; glands 4, yellow-green to brownish, oblong, 0.2–0.3 × 0.5–0.7 mm; appendages white, flabellate to oblong, 0.1–0.2(–0.5) × 0.4–0.8 mm, distal margin entire or dentate-crenate. |
Staminate flowers | 20–25. |
22–26. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.6–1 mm, 2-fid at apex. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.3–0.4 mm, unbranched, thickened-clavate. |
Capsules | globose, 2.3–2.8 × 4.3–5.1 mm, glabrous; columella 2.5–3.2 mm. |
ovoid and broadly triangular, 1.5–1.9(–2.5) × 1.4–1.6(–2.2) mm, glabrous; columella 1.2–1.8 mm. |
Seeds | ashy gray, ovoid, 2.9 × 2 mm, with obscure shallow depressions; caruncle absent. |
white, oblong, 4-angled in cross section, adaxial faces slightly concave, with long raphe between, 1.5–1.8 × 0.7–1 mm, markedly foveolate, with irregular to ± parallel or anastomosing ridges. |
Cyathia | in terminal dichasia or pleiochasia; peduncle 2–6 mm (to 20 mm for central cyathium), glabrous. |
solitary at distal nodes; peduncle 0.3–1(–1.5) mm. |
2n | = 28. |
|
Euphorbia polyphylla |
Euphorbia astyla |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting late spring–late fall. | Flowering and fruiting late spring–early fall. |
Habitat | Open sand and pine savannas. | Desert, grasslands, limestone substrates, usually on very saline or alkaline soils. |
Elevation | 0–10 m. (0–0 ft.) | 700–1100 m. (2300–3600 ft.) |
Distribution |
FL
|
TX; Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León) |
Discussion | Euphorbia polyphylla is endemic to sandy habitats in the southern half of peninsular Florida. The species has been reported from coastal Louisiana, but whether those plants represent native occurrences or plantings is unclear (R. D. Thomas and C. M. Allen 1993–1998, vol. 2). The Florida populations are here recognized as the only native occurrences. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Euphorbia astyla is a specialist on halophytic, alkaline soils and is known in the flora area only in part of Pecos County. The species is closely related to E. jejuna but differs in its sessile or sub-sessile leaves with a cordate-auriculate base and involucral gland appendages that are not deeply lobed or cleft. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 250. | FNA vol. 12, p. 261. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Alectoroctonum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Tithymalopsis polyphylla | Chamaesyce astyla |
Name authority | Engelmann ex Chapman: Fl. South. U.S. ed. 2, repr. 2, 694. (1892) | Engelmann ex Boissier: in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 15(2): 40. (1862) |
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