Euphorbia terracina |
Euphorbia crenulata |
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carnation spurge, Geraldton carnation weed, terracina spurge |
Chinese caps, western wood spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial or biennial, with taproot. | Herbs, usually biennial, occasionally annual, with taproot. |
Stems | erect, unbranched or branched, 10–100 cm, glabrous. |
erect, sometimes decumbent at base, unbranched or branched, 12–40 cm, glabrous. |
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. |
petiole 0–2 mm; blade obovate-spatulate to oblanceolate, 8–22 × 3–10 mm, base broadly attenuate, margins entire or slightly crisped, apex obtuse to ± rounded, minutely apiculate, surfaces glabrous; venation pinnate, midvein prominent. |
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. |
campanulate, 1.8–2.1 × 1.6–1.8 mm, glabrous; glands 4, crescent-shaped, 0.6–1.2 × 1.5–2.3 mm; horns slightly divergent to slightly convergent, 0.4–0.6 mm. |
Staminate flowers | 15–20. |
11–18. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 1–1.8 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.9–1.4 mm, 2-fid. |
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. |
subovoid, 2.5–3 × 3.5–4 mm, 3-lobed; cocci rounded, smooth or puncticulate, glabrous; columella 1.9–2.3 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. |
cream and brown mottled, oblong-ovoid to nearly globose, 2–2.5 × 1.4–1.7 mm, usually irregularly vermiculate-ridged and large-pitted, occasionally tuberculate or nearly smooth; caruncle reniform, conic, 0.5–0.6 × 0.5–0.7 mm. |
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. |
arrangement: terminal pleiochasial branches 3, each 2-branched; pleiochasial bracts obovate to orbiculate-reniform, wider than distal leaves; dichasial bracts usually connate 1/3–1/2 length (often only on one side), rarely only connate basally, triangular ovate to reniform, base truncate to perfoliate, margins erose-denticulate to subentire, apex rounded to obtuse, rarely apiculate; axillary cymose branches 0–5. |
Cyathia | peduncle 1–3 mm. |
peduncle 0–0.5 mm. |
Euphorbia terracina |
Euphorbia crenulata |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–summer. | Flowering and fruiting spring–summer. |
Habitat | Edges of cultivated fields and woodlands, roadsides, waste areas, pastures, coastal bluffs, dunes, riparian areas. | Conifer, oak, and mixed forests, coastal scrub, grasslands, barrens and outcrops, roadsides. |
Elevation | 0–300 m. (0–1000 ft.) | 30–1800 m. (100–5900 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; Europe [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico, s Africa, Australia]
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CA; CO; NM; OR
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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 crenulata is most common in the central valleys of California and southern Oregon; it occurs disjunctly in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico. Previous reports from Arizona are based on misidentified specimens. Euphorbia crenulata is closely related to E. commutata. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 310. | FNA vol. 12, p. 301. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Tithymalus terracinus | Tithymalus crenulatus |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. ed. 2, 1: 654. (1762) | Engelmann: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 192. (1859) |
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