Euphorbia terracina |
Euphorbia angusta |
|
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carnation spurge, Geraldton carnation weed, terracina spurge |
Blackfoot sandmat, narrow-leaf spurge |
|
Habit | Herbs, perennial or biennial, with taproot. | Herbs, perennial, with moderately to strongly thickened rootstock. |
Stems | erect, unbranched or branched, 10–100 cm, glabrous. |
erect, 12–43 cm, uniformly strigose. |
Leaves | petiole absent; blade linear, linear-lanceolate, oblong-elliptic, or obovate, 4–50 × 2–10 mm, base obtuse or truncate, margins finely serrulate, apex acute, obtuse, or truncate, sometimes mucronulate, surfaces glabrous; venation inconspicuous, only midvein prominent. |
opposite; stipules distinct, linear-subulate or nodiform to papilliform nodiform to papilliform stipules often reddish brown, 0.1–0.7 mm, strigose; petiole 0.3–1.2 mm, strigose; blade: proximal ovate to ovate-elliptic, distal linear to elliptic-linear, 7–41 × 2–5 mm, distal leaf blades more than 6 times as long as wide, base asymmetric, cuneate to rounded, margins entire, often involute on drying, apex acute, surfaces usually short strigose, occasionally glabrous adaxially; venation pinnate, only midvein conspicuous. |
Involucre | cupulate to slightly turbinate, 1.1–2 × 1.3–1.5 mm, glabrous or puberulent; glands 4, elliptic to trapezoidal, 0.6–0.8 × 1–2 mm; horns slightly convergent to divergent, 1–2 mm. |
turbinate to campanulate-turbinate, 1–1.5 × 1–1.4 mm, strigose; glands 4, green to yellow-green, concave, narrowly oblong, 0.2–0.4 × 0.4–0.7 mm; appendages white, flabellate, 0.5–1.1 × 0.3–0.5 mm, distal margin shallowly and irregularly toothed. |
Staminate flowers | 15–20. |
16–26. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 1–1.8 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary strigose; styles 0.3–0.5 mm, 2-fid at apex to almost 1/2 length. |
Capsules | depressed-globose, 2.5–3 × 3–4.5 mm, deeply 3-lobed; cocci rounded to subangular, smooth, glabrous; columella 1.9–2.3 mm. |
broadly ovoid, 2–2.6 × 2.5–3 mm, strigose; columella 1.6–2.2 mm. |
Seeds | pale gray, subovoid, 1.6–2.4 × 1.3–1.8 mm, smooth; caruncle boat-shaped, 0.4–0.6 × 0.4–0.6 mm. |
white, ovoid, 4-angled in cross section, 1.7–2.2 × 1.1–1.2 mm, transversely low-ridged or wrinkled. |
Cyathial | arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches 2–5, each 1–5 times 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts lanceolate, elliptic or ovate, similar in size to distal leaves; dichasial bracts distinct, ovate to subreniform, base cuneate to cordate, margins finely serrulate, apex acute, obtuse, or rounded, sometimes mucronulate or cuspidate; axillary cymose branches 0–7. |
|
Cyathia | peduncle 1–3 mm. |
solitary at distal nodes; peduncle 1.1–2.4 mm. |
2n | = 28. |
|
Euphorbia terracina |
Euphorbia angusta |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–summer. | Flowering and fruiting early spring–fall. |
Habitat | Edges of cultivated fields and woodlands, roadsides, waste areas, pastures, coastal bluffs, dunes, riparian areas. | Rocky limestone soils. |
Elevation | 0–300 m. (0–1000 ft.) | 400–1200 m. (1300–3900 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; Europe [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico, s Africa, Australia]
|
TX; Mexico (Coahuila) |
Discussion | Euphorbia terracina is native to the Mediterranean region of Europe. This species is invasive and spreading rapidly, displacing native coastal scrub in southern California, and has been listed as a noxious weed by that state. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Euphorbia angusta, which in the flora area is known from the trans-Pecos region to the Edwards Plateau, is easily recognized by its erect habit, linear leaves, and relatively showy involucral gland appendages with toothed margins. The species is closely related to E. acuta and the Mexican endemic E. johnstonii Mayfield (M. H. Mayfield 1991); it is not only morphologically distinctive but is also the only species in sect. Anisophyllum with C3 photosynthesis (R. F. Sage et al. 2011; T. L. Sage et al. 2011; G. L. Webster 1975). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 310. | FNA vol. 12, p. 260. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Tithymalus terracinus | Chamaesyce angusta |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. ed. 2, 1: 654. (1762) | Engelmann: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 189. (1859) |
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