Euphorbia spathulata |
Euphorbia trachysperma |
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prairie spurge, reticulate seed spurge, spatulate leaf spurge, warty spurge |
San Pedro River sandmat |
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Habit | Herbs, usually annual, rarely biennial, with taproot. | Herbs, annual, with slender taproot. |
Stems | erect or ascending, unbranched or branched, 10–70 cm, glabrous. |
erect to ascending, 10–55 cm, glabrous. |
Leaves | petiole absent or to 0.2 mm; blade oblanceolate, oblong-oblanceolate, spatulate, or cuneate, 10–50 × 6–11 mm, base broadly attenuate to rounded or shallowly cordate-clasping, margins finely serrulate (usually distally), apex usually rounded to obtuse, occasionally slightly retuse or obcordate proximally, bluntly mucronate, surfaces glabrous; venation pinnate, midvein prominent. |
opposite; stipules distinct, narrowly triangular and often divided into 3–5 subulate to filiform segments, 0.8–1.9 mm, glabrous; petiole 1.2–3.1 mm, glabrous; blade oblong, elliptic, or ovate, 12–43 × 3–14 mm, base subsymmetric to asymmetric, rounded, attenuate, or with one side hemicordate and other side rounded, margins usually serrulate, rarely entire on some leaves or portion of blade, apex obtuse to acute, surfaces often with red blotch in center, glabrous; pinnately veined, often only midvein conspicuous. |
Involucre | campanulate to cupulate, 0.6–1(–1.5) × 0.8–1.2 mm, glabrous; glands 4–5, elliptic, oblong, to slightly reniform, 0.2–0.6 × 0.4–1 mm; horns absent. |
oblong, campanulate, or funnel-shaped, 1.5–2.6 × 1.1–2.3 mm, glabrous; glands 4, green to yellowish or tinged with red, subcircular to oblong, 0.4–0.7 × 0.5–1 mm; appendages absent or white, often forming narrow rim or oblong to ovate, 0–0.8 × 1.2 mm, distal margin entire. |
Staminate flowers | 3–10. |
50–60. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.8–1.5 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.5–0.6 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
Capsules | depressed-globose, 2–3.5 × 4 mm, 3-lobed; cocci rounded, verrucose, verrucae 0.1–0.2 mm, glabrous; columella 1.4–2.2 mm. |
oblate, 2.4–3.2 × 3–3.5 mm, glabrous; columella 2.3–2.5 mm. |
Seeds | red-brown to dark purple, occasionally ± glaucous, broadly ellipsoid-ovoid to nearly globose, 1.3–2.5 × 1.5–1.8 mm, smooth, reticulate, or finely low-ridged; caruncle irregularly reniform to round, subconic to lenticular, 0.3–0.4 × 0.5–0.6 mm. |
light brown, ovoid, 4-angled in cross section, abaxial keel well developed, 1.9–2.3 × 1.3–1.4 mm, finely dimpled and papillate. |
Cyathial | arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches 3(–5), each 1–3 times 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts broadly ovate to ovate-oblong, shorter and wider than distal leaves; dichasial bracts distinct, broadly ovate, ovate-triangular, or ovate-elliptic, base cordate-clasping or subcordate to rounded, margins serrulate, apex rounded to obtuse or acute; axillary cymose branches (0–4)5–12. |
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Cyathia | peduncle 0.3–1(–1.5) mm. |
solitary at distal nodes; peduncle 1.4–2.4 mm. |
Euphorbia spathulata |
Euphorbia trachysperma |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–summer. | Flowering and fruiting late summer–early winter. |
Habitat | Forests, fallow fields, prairies, pastures, glades, stream banks, waste places, roadsides. | Desert scrub, desert grasslands, mesquite woodlands. |
Elevation | 0–3500 m. (0–11500 ft.) | 200–1200 m. (700–3900 ft.) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; DC; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MD; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NM; OH; OK; OR; PA; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; WA; WI; WV; WY; ON; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sonora); s South America
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AZ; Mexico (Baja California Sur, Sonora) |
Discussion | As treated here, Euphorbia spathulata is a wide-ranging and variable species. J. B. S. Norton (1900) recognized a number of segregates (for example, E. arkansana, E. dictyosperma, and E. obtusata) all of which are included here in a broadly defined E. spathulata. The only segregate species that has been widely recognized in regional floras is E. obtusata (for example, M. L. Fernald 1950; T. S. Cooperrider 1995; G. Yatskievych 1999–2013, vol. 2). Authors have generally distinguished the eastern North American E. obtusata from the western E. spathulata by the former's larger seeds (1.7–2.3 mm versus 1.5–1.7 mm) with smooth (versus reticulate) surfaces, larger involucres, red (versus yellow) involucral glands, and cordate-clasping (versus rounded to subcordate) dichasial bracts. Examination of specimens of E. spathulata in the broad sense from throughout North America showed that there is some geographic patterning to seed size and surface sculpturing, but the variation does not segregate cleanly into two discrete taxa. Plants from western North America typically have small seeds (1.5–1.7 mm) with reticulate surfaces, although some western individuals have seeds 1.8–1.9 mm long with reticulate surfaces. Plants from Texas generally have small seeds (1.5–1.6 mm) but with the surfaces either reticulate or completely smooth. Plants from adjacent Louisiana have small seeds with faintly reticulate to almost bumpy surfaces. Plants from eastern North America have larger seeds (2–2.3 mm) with usually smooth surfaces, although individuals from Tennessee and the Carolinas have faintly reticulate surfaces. Involucre height, gland color, and the shape of the dichasial bracts do not segregate with seed size as previous treatments have suggested. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Euphorbia trachysperma may be expected in extreme southwestern New Mexico given the close proximity of some collections in southeastern Arizona. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 309. | FNA vol. 12, p. 291. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | E. arkansana, E. dictyosperma, E. obtusata, Galarhoeus arkansanus, G. obtusatus, Tithymalus arkansanus, T. dictyospermus, T. obtusatus, T. spathulatus | Chamaesyce trachysperma |
Name authority | Lamarck: in J. Lamarck et al., Encycl. 2: 428. (1788) | Engelmann: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 189. (1859) |
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