Euphorbia polyphylla |
Euphorbia fendleri |
|
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lesser Florida spurge |
Fendler's sandmat |
|
Habit | Herbs, perennial, with spreading rootstock. | Herbs, perennial, with woody, thickened taproot. |
Stems | erect or ascending, branched, solitary, few, or occasionally densely clumped, previous year's dead stems not persistent, 18–33 cm, glabrous. |
usually prostrate, decumbent, or ascending, very rarely erect, often densely clustered from top of woody crown, 5–12 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. |
usually opposite, rarely whorled; stipules distinct, narrowly linear, 0.5–1 mm, glabrous; petiole 0.5–1 mm, glabrous; blade usually orbiculate to ovate, rarely almost lanceolate, 3–8 × 2.5–7 mm, base slightly asymmetric, slightly cordate to rounded or obtuse, margins entire, apex rounded to obtuse, surfaces glabrous; obscurely 3–5-veined from base, 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. |
campanulate to turbinate or broadly cupulate, 1.1–1.7 × 1.2–1.8 mm, glabrous; glands 4, yellow-green to reddish, elliptic to oblong, 0.2–0.5 × 0.4–0.9 mm; appendages absent or white, rarely pink, often unequal, lunate to flabellate or sometimes forming crenate margin along gland, (0–)0.1–0.6 × (0–)0.5–1.5 mm, distal margin entire or toothed. |
Staminate flowers | 20–25. |
25–35. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.6–1 mm, 2-fid at apex. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.3–0.4 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
Capsules | globose, 2.3–2.8 × 4.3–5.1 mm, glabrous; columella 2.5–3.2 mm. |
depressed-globose, 2–2.4 × 2.2–2.5 mm, glabrous; columella 1.7–2.1 mm. |
Seeds | ashy gray, ovoid, 2.9 × 2 mm, with obscure shallow depressions; caruncle absent. |
white, ovoid-pyramidal, prominently 4-angled in cross section, 1.7–2 × 1–1.2 mm, smooth to slightly wrinkled. |
Cyathia | in terminal dichasia or pleiochasia; peduncle 2–6 mm (to 20 mm for central cyathium), glabrous. |
solitary at distal nodes; peduncle 0.7–1.2 mm. |
2n | = 28. |
|
Euphorbia polyphylla |
Euphorbia fendleri |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting late spring–late fall. | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. |
Habitat | Open sand and pine savannas. | Mountain slopes, desert scrub, pinyon-juniper woodlands, hills, canyons, grasslands, washes, roadsides, dry crevices in limestone, often in gravel and sand. |
Elevation | 0–10 m. (0–0 ft.) | 500–2600 m. (1600–8500 ft.) |
Distribution |
FL
|
AZ; CA; CO; KS; NE; NM; NV; OK; SD; TX; UT; WY; Mexico (Coahuila)
|
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 fendleri is similar to E. chaetocalyx and may sometimes be confused with that species. Its prostrate to decumbent or ascending stems and small, ovate to orbiculate leaves distinguish it from E. chaetocalyx. Some authors have used the presence or absence and shape of the involucral gland appendages to help separate E. fendleri from E. chaetocalyx, but those characters appear highly variable and of little taxonomic utility; somewhat intermediate individuals occur in western Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 250. | FNA vol. 12, p. 267. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Alectoroctonum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Tithymalopsis polyphylla | Chamaesyce fendleri |
Name authority | Engelmann ex Chapman: Fl. South. U.S. ed. 2, repr. 2, 694. (1892) | Torrey & A. Gray: in War Department [U.S.], Pacif. Railr. Rep. 2(4): 175. (1857) |
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