Euphorbia polyphylla |
Euphorbia longicruris |
|
---|---|---|
lesser Florida spurge |
wedge-leaf spurge |
|
Habit | Herbs, perennial, with spreading rootstock. | Herbs, annual, with taproot. |
Stems | erect or ascending, branched, solitary, few, or occasionally densely clumped, previous year's dead stems not persistent, 18–33 cm, glabrous. |
erect, usually unbranched, occasionally branched later in season, 5–25 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. |
petiole 0–0.5 mm; blade cuneate-spatulate to obovate, 5–15 × 2–6 mm, base broadly attenuate, margins entire, apex rounded to obtuse, mucronate, surfaces glabrous; venation pinnate, midvein prominent. |
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, 1.5–2 × 1–1.5 mm, glabrous; glands 4, crescent-shaped to elliptic, 0.4–0.8 × 0.8–1.1 mm; horns divergent, 0.5–0.8 mm. |
Staminate flowers | 20–25. |
10–15. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.6–1 mm, 2-fid at apex. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.5–0.6 mm, 2-fid. |
Capsules | globose, 2.3–2.8 × 4.3–5.1 mm, glabrous; columella 2.5–3.2 mm. |
ovoid-globose, 2–2.8 × 2.5–3 mm, 3-lobed; cocci rounded, smooth, glabrous; columella 1.6–2.1 mm. |
Seeds | ashy gray, ovoid, 2.9 × 2 mm, with obscure shallow depressions; caruncle absent. |
gray to purple-gray or sometimes nearly black, oblong, 1.3–1.6 × 0.9–1.2 mm, strongly small-pitted; caruncle umbonate, depressed-conic, 0.5 × 0.7 mm. |
Cyathia | in terminal dichasia or pleiochasia; peduncle 2–6 mm (to 20 mm for central cyathium), glabrous. |
peduncle 0.3–0.5 mm. |
Cyathial | arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches 3, each many times 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts obovate, similar in size to distal leaves; dichasial bracts basally subconnate, strongly imbricate and often obscuring internodes, reniform to semiorbiculate, base cordate, margins entire, apex rounded; axillary cymose branches 0–5. |
|
Euphorbia polyphylla |
Euphorbia longicruris |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting late spring–late fall. | Flowering and fruiting spring. |
Habitat | Open sand and pine savannas. | Grasslands, open prairies, sites with rocky, usually calcareous soils. |
Elevation | 0–10 m. (0–0 ft.) | 300–800 m. (1000–2600 ft.) |
Distribution |
FL
|
AR; KS; OK; TX |
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 longicruris is quite similar to the other small, annual members of subg. Esula in the south-central United States and can best be distinguished from those species by its imbricate dichasial bracts that form little tufts of overlapping leaves at the ends of the pleiochasial branches. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 250. | FNA vol. 12, p. 304. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Alectoroctonum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Tithymalopsis polyphylla | Tithymalus longicruris |
Name authority | Engelmann ex Chapman: Fl. South. U.S. ed. 2, repr. 2, 694. (1892) | Scheele: Linnaea 22: 152. (1849) |
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