Euphorbia setiloba |
Euphorbia perennans |
|
---|---|---|
fringe spurge, shaggy spurge, Yuma sandmat |
perennial sandmat, Terlingua spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, annual, with slender taproot. | Herbs, perennial, with strongly thickened, woody rootstock. |
Stems | prostrate, mat-forming, 5–50 cm, villous with glistening glandular hairs. |
erect, 7–45 cm, glabrous. |
Leaves | opposite; stipules distinct, filiform, rudimentary to 0.2 mm, glabrous or sparsely villous with glistening glandular hairs; petiole 0.5–1.5 mm, villous; blade oblong, ovate, or elliptic, 3–7 × 2–4 mm, base asymmetric, rounded, margins entire, apex obtuse, surfaces villous; weakly 3-veined from base, commonly only midvein conspicuous. |
opposite; stipules distinct, linear-filiform in (1–)2(–3) segments, 0.3–0.4 mm, glabrous; petiole 0.8–2 mm, glabrous; blade ovate or orbiculate-deltate to reniform-deltate, 5–17 × 4–16 mm midstem leaves largest, base symmetric, cuneate, rounded to cordate, margins entire, apex acute to rounded, surfaces glabrous, often glaucous; 3-veined from base, only midvein conspicuous. |
Involucre | campanulate or urceolate, 0.7–1 × 0.5–0.8 mm, villous; glands 4, red to pink, oblong to slightly reniform, 0.1–0.2 × 0.2–0.3 mm; appendages white to pink, deeply incised into 3–6 triangular to subulate, attenuate, acute segments, 0.3–0.6 × 0.6–1 mm, segments entire. |
broadly-campanulate to hemispheric, 1.7–2.2 × 1.5–2.7 mm, glabrous; glands 4, green to yellow-green, elliptic to oblong, folded longitudinally, 0.3–0.5 × 0.7–1.4 mm; appendages absent. |
Staminate flowers | 3–7. |
35–45. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary villous; styles 0.3–0.4 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.7–0.9 mm, 2-fid nearly entire length. |
Capsules | subglobose to ovoid, 1–1.2 mm diam., villous; columella 0.9–1.1 mm. |
subglobose to broadly ovoid, 2.8–3.3 × 2.8–3.4 mm, glabrous; columella 2.2–2.7 mm. |
Seeds | pink to light gray, narrowly ovoid, 4-angled in cross section, 0.8–1 × 0.5–0.6 mm, dimpled or with faint transverse ridges that do not pass through abaxial keel. |
white to light brown, ovoid, 3–4-angled in cross section, 2–2.4 × 1–1.2 mm, smooth to faintly transverse-wrinkled. |
Cyathia | solitary at distal nodes, nodes often congested toward tips of branches; peduncle 0.2–1.6 mm. |
solitary at distal nodes or at nodes of short, axillary branches; peduncle 1.8–3 mm. |
Euphorbia setiloba |
Euphorbia perennans |
|
Phenology | Flowering nearly year-round in response to sufficient moisture. | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. |
Habitat | Desert scrub, blackbrush scrub, Joshua tree woodlands, grasslands, often in sandy areas. | Desert scrub, on cretaceous and gypseous clay, limestone hills and flats. |
Elevation | 20–1600 m. (100–5200 ft.) | 900–1200 m. (3000–3900 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NM; NV; TX; UT; Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Durango, Sinaloa, Sonora)
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TX; Mexico (Chihuahua) |
Discussion | Euphorbia perennans is a distinctive species with an erect habit and relatively large, firm, deltate midstem leaves. Phylogenetic data place E. perennans in a clade of primarily Chihuahuan Desert annual and perennial species (for example, E. chaetocalyx, E. fendleri, E. golondrina, E. simulans, E. spurca, and E. theriaca; Y. Yang and P. E. Berry 2011). Euphorbia perennans is known in the flora area only from Brewster County. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
|
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 288. | FNA vol. 12, p. 282. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Chamaesyce setiloba | Chamaesyce perennans |
Name authority | Engelmann: in War Department [U.S.], Pacif. Railr. Rep. 5(2): 364. (1857) | (Shinners) Warnock & M. C. Johnston: SouthW. Naturalist 5: 170. (1960) |
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