Euphorbia polyphylla |
Euphorbia florida |
|
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lesser Florida spurge |
Chiricahua Mountain sandmat |
|
Habit | Herbs, perennial, with spreading rootstock. | Herbs, annual, with slender taproot. |
Stems | erect or ascending, branched, solitary, few, or occasionally densely clumped, previous year's dead stems not persistent, 18–33 cm, glabrous. |
erect, 15–60 cm, usually glabrous, rarely puberulent. |
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 distinct, divided into 3–4 subulate-filiform divisions, 0.4–1.6 mm, usually glabrous, rarely puberulent; petiole 0.5–2.5 mm, glabrous; blade usually linear, rarely to narrowly elliptic, 10–40(–60) × 0.5–2.5 mm, base symmetric, attenuate, margins serrulate, often revolute, apex acute, surfaces usually glabrous, rarely puberulent; obscurely pinnately veined. |
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. |
obconic, 1.7–2.4 × 1.5–2.1 mm, glabrous; glands 4, greenish yellow to slightly pink, circular to oblong, 0.4–0.5 × 0.4–0.6 mm; appendages white to pink, obovoid, circular, flabellate, or oblong, 0.8–2.9 × 1–2.8 mm, distal margin entire. |
Staminate flowers | 20–25. |
25–35. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.6–1 mm, 2-fid at apex. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.8–1.4 mm, 2-fid entire length. |
Capsules | globose, 2.3–2.8 × 4.3–5.1 mm, glabrous; columella 2.5–3.2 mm. |
oblate, 2.2–2.5 × 2.7–3.1 mm, glabrous; columella 1.8–2.1 mm. |
Seeds | ashy gray, ovoid, 2.9 × 2 mm, with obscure shallow depressions; caruncle absent. |
light gray to light brown, ovoid, slightly 4-angled in cross section, 1.6–2 × 1.3–1.7 mm, with 2 or 3 well-developed transverse ridges. |
Cyathia | in terminal dichasia or pleiochasia; peduncle 2–6 mm (to 20 mm for central cyathium), glabrous. |
solitary at nodes or in small, cymose clusters at branch tips; peduncle 1.2–8.1 mm. |
Euphorbia polyphylla |
Euphorbia florida |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting late spring–late fall. | Flowering and fruiting summer–late fall. |
Habitat | Open sand and pine savannas. | Sandy flats, gravelly washes, rocky hillsides, talus slopes, desert scrub, desert grasslands, mesquite woodlands, rarely oak woodlands. |
Elevation | 0–10 m. (0–0 ft.) | 600–1300 m. (2000–4300 ft.) |
Distribution |
FL
|
AZ; Mexico (Sinaloa, Sonora)
|
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 florida is known in the flora area from Coconino County south to the Mexican border (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 florida |
Name authority | Engelmann ex Chapman: Fl. South. U.S. ed. 2, repr. 2, 694. (1892) | Engelmann: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 189. (1859) |
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