Euphorbia theriaca |
Euphorbia ipecacuanhae |
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Terlingua sandmat, Terlingua spurge |
American ipecac, Carolina ipecac, ipecac spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, annual, with slender taproot. | Herbs, perennial, with deep, stout rootstock. | ||||
Stems | prostrate to reclining, not mat-forming, 5–30 cm, glabrous. |
decumbent or slightly ascending, branched, often densely clumped, previous year's dead stems not persistent, 17–27 cm, usually glabrous, rarely sparsely villous. |
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Leaves | opposite; stipules usually distinct, occasionally connate basally on lower side of stem, subulate or scalelike, usually entire, occasionally 2-fid or margin sparsely ciliate, 0.4–1 mm, glabrous; petiole 0.7–1.2(–1.5) mm, glabrous; blade ovate, oblong, orbiculate, or obovate, 2–7.1 × 1–3.5 mm, base slightly asymmetric, rounded, margins entire, often revolute on drying, apex usually rounded, occasionally slightly emarginate, surfaces glabrous; venation usually obscure, only midvein conspicuous. |
alternate; stipules 0.1–0.2 mm; petiole (0–)1–2 mm, glabrous; blade usually linear, obovate, or oblanceolate to orbiculate, rarely filiform, proximal greatly reduced, scalelike, 15–70 × 1.5–13 mm gradually smaller proximally, base cuneate, margins entire, apex rounded, broadly acute, or emarginate, surfaces glabrous; venation occasionally obscure on smaller leaves, midvein conspicuous. |
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Involucre | usually turbinate-campanulate to hemispheric, occasionally suburceolate, 1–1.8 × 0.9–1.4 mm, glabrous; glands 4, yellow-green to red-purple, sessile or short-stipitate, subcircular to slightly elliptic, 0.2–0.5 × 0.2–0.7 mm; appendages absent or white to pink, semilunate or forming rim at edge of gland, (0–)0.1–0.4 × (0–)0.3–0.9 mm, entire or slightly crenate. |
yellow or yellow-green, hemispheric, 1–1.2 × 2–2.4 mm, glabrous; glands 5, yellow or yellow-green, obovate or elliptic, 0.7–0.8 × 1–1.2 mm; appendages white or green, often forming narrow rim around distal margin of gland, 0–0.2 mm, entire. |
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Staminate flowers | 15–36. |
10–20. |
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Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.3–0.5 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.4–0.8 mm, 2-fid at apex. |
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Capsules | broadly ovoid, 1.1–1.6 × 1.5–1.8 mm, glabrous; columella 1.2–1.5 mm. |
globose, 2.3–3.4 × 3.5–4.2 mm, glabrous; columella 3–3.1 mm. |
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Seeds | whitish, reddish brown beneath coat, ovate, 4-angled in cross section, 0.8–1.2 × 0.5–0.8 mm, with (2–)3(–5) deep transverse ridges. |
white or brown, ovoid, 2.3–2.5 × 1.5 mm, angular, with 5 longitudinal ridges, shallowly and irregularly pitted; caruncle absent. |
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Cyathia | usually solitary at distal nodes, rarely clustered on short, axillary branches; peduncle 0.3–1.3 mm. |
usually in terminal dichasia, sometimes pleiochasia; peduncle 10–50(–70) mm, glabrous. |
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2n | = 28. |
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Euphorbia theriaca |
Euphorbia ipecacuanhae |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting early spring–early summer. | |||||
Habitat | Pine and pine-oak savannas, pine-oak sand hills, turkey oak scrub, open sand habitats. | |||||
Elevation | 0–150 m. (0–500 ft.) | |||||
Distribution |
NM; TX; n Mexico
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CT; DC; DE; GA; MD; NC; NJ; NY; PA; SC; VA
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Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
The vegetative stems of Euphorbia ipecacuanhae are often quite short in proportion to the dichasial or pleiochasial branches, thus superficially plants often appear to have mostly opposite leaves. However, careful examination of the base of the plant will reveal alternate leaves. The leaves are extremely variable in both shape and coloration, and the variation can be pronounced within a population or even on a single plant. M. J. Huft (1979) did not recognize infraspecific taxa within E. ipecacuanhae, and his treatment is followed here. This species is found on the Atlantic coastal plain. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 290. | FNA vol. 12, p. 247. | ||||
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Alectoroctonum | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Chamaesyce theriaca | E. arundelana, Tithymalopsis ipecacuanhae | ||||
Name authority | L. C. Wheeler: Rhodora 43: 242, plate 660, fig. A. (1941) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 455. (1753) | ||||
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