Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Euphorbia schizoloba

Mojave spurge
Habit Herbs, perennial, with thick rootstock.
Stems

slender, ascending, often sinuous, many, densely branched near base, 10–50 cm, usually glabrous, usually glaucous.
Leaves

petiole 0–1 mm;

blade broadly oblanceolate to obovate, 10–20 × 3–9 mm, base usually acute, occasionally short-attenuate, rarely obtuse, margins entire, apex usually acute, occasionally obtuse, acuminate to cuspidate, surfaces usually glabrous, usually glaucous;

venation pinnate, sometimes obscure, midvein prominent.
Involucre

campanulate to broadly turbinate, 2.2–3 × 2–2.5 mm, glabrous;

glands 4, irregularly semicircular to trapezoidal or elliptic-truncate, 0.8–1.5 × 1–2.2, margins strongly crenate or dentate;

horns usually absent, if present then straight, 0.1–0.2 mm, generally equaling teeth on gland margin.
Staminate flowers

12–20.
Pistillate flowers

ovary glabrous;

styles 1–1.2 mm, 2-fid.
Capsules

oblong-ovoid, 3.5–4 × 3.8–5 mm, 3-lobed;

cocci rounded, smooth, glabrous;

columella 3.3–3.8 mm.
Seeds

gray to whitish, oblong cylindric, 2–3 × 1.5 mm, irregularly shallowly pitted to almost smooth;

caruncle conic, 0.6 × 0.6 mm.
Cyathial

arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches (1–)3–4(–5), each 1–3 times 2-branched;

pleiochasial bracts broadly ovate to subcordate, usually similar in size to, occasionally wider than, distal leaves;

dichasial bracts distinct, broadly ovate to almost reniform, base obtuse, margins entire, apex obtuse, acuminate to cuspidate;

axillary cymose branches 0–2(–4).
Cyathia

peduncle 0.3–1 mm.

Euphorbia schizoloba
Phenology Flowering and fruiting spring–summer.
Habitat Desert mountains and canyon slopes, rocky and gravelly soils.
Elevation 500–1800 m. (1600–5900 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Euphorbia schizoloba is a desert perennial that occurs on bluffs and ledges in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts. Sparsely pubescent plants of E. schizoloba are known from Arizona and are best represented by several collections from the Mazatzal and Sierra Ancha mountains in Gila County from between 1000 to 1800 meters. George Engelmann published two names for this species almost simultaneously in 1861 (E. schizoloba and E. incisa). Although the authors have not been able to determine which publication has priority, Engelmann himself cited E. incisa as a synonym of E. schizoloba (in W. H. Brewer et al. 1876–1880, vol. 2), as did J. B. S. Norton (1899). Also, the type specimen at MO was annotated by Engelmann as E. schizoloba, and there is no mention of the name E. incisa on the sheet.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 309.
Parent taxa Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula
Sibling taxa
E. aaron-rossii, E. abramsiana, E. acuta, E. agraria, E. albomarginata, E. alta, E. angusta, E. antisyphilitica, E. arizonica, E. astyla, E. austrotexana, E. bicolor, E. bifurcata, E. bilobata, E. blodgettii, E. bombensis, E. brachycera, E. capitellata, E. carunculata, E. chaetocalyx, E. chamaesula, E. cinerascens, E. commutata, E. conferta, E. cordifolia, E. corollata, E. crenulata, E. cumulicola, E. cuphosperma, E. curtisii, E. cyathophora, E. cyparissias, E. davidii, E. deltoidea, E. dendroides, E. dentata, E. discoidalis, E. eriantha, E. exigua, E. exserta, E. exstipulata, E. falcata, E. fendleri, E. florida, E. floridana, E. garberi, E. georgiana, E. geyeri, E. glyptosperma, E. golondrina, E. gracillima, E. graminea, E. helioscopia, E. helleri, E. heterophylla, E. hexagona, E. hirta, E. hooveri, E. humistrata, E. hypericifolia, E. hyssopifolia, E. indivisa, E. innocua, E. inundata, E. ipecacuanhae, E. jaegeri, E. jejuna, E. laredana, E. lasiocarpa, E. lata, E. lathyris, E. longicruris, E. lurida, E. macropus, E. maculata, E. marginata, E. meganaesos, E. melanadenia, E. mendezii, E. mercurialina, E. mesembrianthemifolia, E. micromera, E. misera, E. missurica, E. myrsinites, E. nephradenia, E. nutans, E. oblongata, E. ocellata, E. ophthalmica, E. ouachitana, E. parishii, E. parryi, E. pediculifera, E. peplidion, E. peplus, E. perennans, E. pergamena, E. pinetorum, E. platyphyllos, E. platysperma, E. polycarpa, E. polygonifolia, E. polyphylla, E. porteriana, E. prostrata, E. pubentissima, E. purpurea, E. radians, E. rayturneri, E. revoluta, E. roemeriana, E. rosescens, E. serpens, E. serpillifolia, E. serrata, E. serrula, E. setiloba, E. simulans, E. spathulata, E. stictospora, E. strictior, E. telephioides, E. terracina, E. tetrapora, E. texana, E. theriaca, E. thymifolia, E. tithymaloides, E. trachysperma, E. trichotoma, E. vallis-mortae, E. velleriflora, E. vermiculata, E. villifera, E. virgata, E. wrightii, E. yaquiana
Synonyms E. incisa, Tithymalus incisus, T. schizolobus
Name authority Engelmann: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 5: 173. (1861)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers