Euphorbia terracina |
Euphorbia serrula |
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carnation spurge, Geraldton carnation weed, terracina spurge |
sawtooth sandmat |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial or biennial, with taproot. | Herbs, annual, with slender taproot. |
Stems | erect, unbranched or branched, 10–100 cm, glabrous. |
prostrate or ascending, 5–20 cm, usually pilose to villous, rarely glabrate. |
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 usually distinct, rarely connate at base, triangular or laciniate into subulate segments, 1–1.8 mm, glabrous; petiole 0.3–0.8 mm, glabrous or villous; blade oblong, ovate, or elliptic, sometimes falcate, 3–11 × 2–5 mm, base asymmetric, rounded to hemicordate, margins sharply serrate to serrulate, usually with conspicuous teeth at base of leaf, apex usually obtuse, rarely acute, surfaces frequently with red blotch in center, not papillate, sparsely pilose to glabrate; 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. |
obconic, 0.8–1.1 × 0.8–1 mm, glabrous; glands 4, greenish yellow, usually reniform to elliptic, rarely circular, 0.1 × 0.1–0.2 mm; appendages usually white, rarely light pink, orbiculate, 0.1–0.3 × 0.2–0.4 mm, distal margin entire or crenulate. |
Staminate flowers | 15–20. |
7–15. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 1–1.8 mm, 2-fid. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.3–0.5 mm, 2-fid 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. |
oblate, cocci not elongated nor terminating in empty portion, 2–2.6 × 3.2–3.7 mm, glabrous; columella 1.7–2.1 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 to light brown, broadly ellipsoid to ovoid, 3–4-angled in cross section, 1.5–1.8 × 1.1–1.3(–1.5) mm, smooth to minutely rugulose or with scattered small depressions. |
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. |
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Cyathia | peduncle 1–3 mm. |
solitary at distal nodes; peduncle 0.4–1.8(–2.3) mm. |
Euphorbia terracina |
Euphorbia serrula |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–summer. | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. |
Habitat | Edges of cultivated fields and woodlands, roadsides, waste areas, pastures, coastal bluffs, dunes, riparian areas. | Desert scrub, with creosote bush, grasslands with mesquite and yucca, rarely in ponderosa pine woodlands, often sandy substrates. |
Elevation | 0–300 m. (0–1000 ft.) | 300–1900 m. (1000–6200 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; Europe [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico, s Africa, Australia]
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AZ; NM; TX; Mexico
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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.) |
In Mexico, Euphorbia serrula is found from Chihuahua and Coahuila south to Puebla. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 310. | FNA vol. 12, p. 288. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > subg. Esula | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Tithymalus terracinus | Chamaesyce serrula |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. ed. 2, 1: 654. (1762) | Engelmann: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 188. (1859) |
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