Euphorbia vermiculata |
Euphorbia hirta |
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hairy sandmat, wormseed sandmat, wormseed spurge |
pillpod sandmat, pillpod spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, annual or short-lived perennial, with slender, fibrous taproot. | Herbs, annual or perennial, with slender to thickened taproot. |
Stems | prostrate to ascending or erect, not mat forming, 10–35 cm, usually sparsely to moderately strigillose, pilose, or villous, rarely glabrate hairs sometimes in longitudinal lines. |
usually erect to ascending, rarely prostrate or decumbent, 10–50(–75) cm, usually both strigillose and hirsute. |
Leaves | opposite; stipules distinct or connate, triangular to narrowly triangular or laciniate into subulate to filiform divisions, 0.6–1.3 mm, glabrous or sparsely pilose; petiole 0.2–0.9 mm, glabrous, villous, or strigillose; blade ovate, oblong, or elliptic, often falcate, 5–18 × 3–9 mm, base asymmetric, one side rounded and other cordate, margins usually serrulate especially in distal 1/2, rarely nearly entire, apex acute or obtuse, surfaces not papillate, sparsely pilose, villous, or sericeous (especially near base), often glabrate (especially older leaves); 3–5-veined from base. |
opposite; stipules usually distinct, rarely connate at base, undivided or divided into 2–4 narrowly deltate to linear-subulate segments, 0.5–1.8(–2.9) mm, pilose, often with light-colored, minute circular glands at base; petiole 1–3 mm, usually both strigillose and hirsute; blade ovate to rhombic, 7–43 × 3–18 mm, base strongly asymmetric, one side rounded or slightly cordate to truncate, the other cuneate to attenuate, margins serrulate to double serrulate, apex acute, surfaces often with red spot in center, usually strigose to hirtellous, rarely glabrescent; 3–5-veined from base. |
Involucre | obconic, 0.7–1.1 × 0.5–0.8 mm, glabrous; glands (2–3)–4, red to reddish green, circular to oblong, 0.1 × 0.1–0.2 mm; appendages absent or white, turning pink with age, flabellate, oblong, circular, or forming narrow lunate border around margin of gland, 0.1–0.3 × 0.2–0.4 mm, distal margin entire or slightly lobed. |
obconic, 0.6–1.2 × 0.4–0.9 mm, strigillose; glands 4, greenish to pink, circular, oblong, or reniform, 0.1–0.2 × 0.1–0.2 mm; appendages white to pink, flabellate, subcircular, or transversely oblong, rarely absent, (0–)0.1–0.6 × (0–)0.1–0.7 mm, distal margin usually entire, rarely slightly lobed. |
Staminate flowers | 5–15. |
2–8. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.3–0.5 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
ovary strigillose, often canescent when young; styles 0.2–0.6 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
Capsules | oblate to subglobose, cocci not elongated nor terminating in empty portion, 1.4–1.8 × 1.7–2.1 mm, glabrous; columella 1.1–1.5 mm. |
subglobose to slightly oblate, 1–1.3 × 1.1–1.6 mm, strigillose; columella 0.7–1 mm. |
Seeds | brown, gray, or almost black, ovoid to oblong, 3–4-angled in cross section, 1.1–1.4 × 0.7–0.8 mm, rugulose and sometimes also with low transverse ridges that do not interrupt abaxial keel. |
brownish red to orange or pink, narrowly ovoid, 4-angled in cross section, 0.7–0.9 × 0.5–0.7 mm, usually rugulose or with 3–6 low transverse ridges, rarely nearly smooth. |
Cyathia | solitary at distal nodes or in small, cymose clusters at branch tips; peduncle 0.2–2.5 mm. |
in dense, axillary and terminal, capitate glomerules, with reduced, bractlike leaves subtending cyathia, axillary glomerules either sessile or at tips of elongated, leafless stalks; peduncle 0.4–2.1 mm. |
Euphorbia vermiculata |
Euphorbia hirta |
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Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. | Flowering and fruiting year-round. |
Habitat | Juniper-oak woodlands, temperate deciduous forests, grasslands, pine forests, oak forests with sycamores, walnuts and alders, often in disturbed areas. | Disturbed areas, roadsides, vacant lots, desert grasslands, mesquite woodlands, riparian forests with cottonwoods and willows, flood plain forests, pinelands, deciduous forests. |
Elevation | 0–2600 m. (0–8500 ft.) | 0–1500 m. (0–4900 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; CT; IL; IN; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; NH; NJ; NM; NY; OH; PA; RI; VA; VT; WI; WV; NB; NS; ON; QC; Mexico; temperate deciduous forests; often in disturbed areas; walnuts and alders; oak forests with sycamores; pine forests; grasslands; Juniper-oak woodlands
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AL; AR; AZ; CA; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; NM; NY; SC; TX; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies; Bermuda [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia]
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Discussion | Euphorbia vermiculata has an interesting disjunct distribution; it ranges from central Mexico to Arizona and New Mexico, and is also present in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Euphorbia hirta is a widespread weed that is distributed throughout tropical and subtropical regions of the world. It is probably native to at least central Mexico, and its native range possibly extends from South America to the southern United States. In many places within the flora area the species is certainly introduced, and it has been recorded as a waif from several states (for example, Maryland, Michigan, and Virginia). Euphorbia pilulifera Linnaeus, a rejected name that is a heterotypic synonym of the Asian E. parviflora Linnaeus, has been misapplied to North American material of E. hirta in the past. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 292. | FNA vol. 12, p. 271. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Chamaesyce rothrockii, C. vermiculata, E. rothrockii | Chamaesyce gemella, C. hirta, E. gemella |
Name authority | Rafinesque: Amer. Monthly Mag. & Crit. Rev. 2: 206. (1818) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 454. (1753) |
Web links |