Euphorbia vermiculata |
Euphorbia indivisa |
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hairy sandmat, wormseed sandmat, wormseed spurge |
royal sandmat |
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Habit | Herbs, annual or short-lived perennial, with slender, fibrous taproot. | Herbs, annual or short-lived perennial, with slender taproot to thickened and woody rootstock. |
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. |
prostrate, usually mat-forming, terete to slightly flattened, 40 cm, lower surface glabrous, upper surface strigillose, pilose or villous. |
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 distinct, entire or divided into 3–4 subulate to filiform segments, 0.8–2 mm, usually pilose, rarely glabrous; petiole 0.5–1 mm, pilose to villous; blade oblong, ovate or narrowly obovate, 3–10(–12) × 2–6 mm, base strongly asymmetric, hemicordate, margins serrulate, apex obtuse to subacute, surfaces glabrous or slightly pilose; 3-veined from base, often only midvein conspicuous. |
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. |
narrowly turbinate, 1–1.2 × 0.4–0.7 mm, pilose; glands 4, yellow to pink, unequal, proximal pair oblong or linear, 0.1 × 0.3–0.4(–0.6) mm, distal pair oblong or subcircular, 0.1 × 0.1–0.2 mm; appendages pink to reddish, unequal, on proximal glands oblique, 0.4–0.8(–1) × 0.8–1.4(–2) mm, on distal glands symmetric, 0.2–0.5 × 0.2–0.5 mm, slightly undulate to slightly crenate. |
Staminate flowers | 5–15. |
5–15. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.3–0.5 mm, 2-fid 1/2 length. |
ovary pilose to strigillose in parts, glabrous in other parts; styles 0.8–1.3 mm, usually unbranched, rarely 2-fid at apex, filiform. |
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. |
ovoid-triangular, 1.2–1.5 × 1–1.4 mm, pilose to strigillose in parts, glabrous in other parts; columella 1–1.3 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. |
brown to light gray, ovoid, 4-angled in cross section, 0.8–1 × 0.4–0.5 mm, with 4 or 5 deep transverse sulci alternating with low transverse ridges. |
Cyathia | solitary at distal nodes or in small, cymose clusters at branch tips; peduncle 0.2–2.5 mm. |
usually in small cymose clusters on congested, axillary branches; peduncle rudimentary or to 0.2 mm. |
Euphorbia vermiculata |
Euphorbia indivisa |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. | Flowering and fruiting summer–fall. |
Habitat | Juniper-oak woodlands, temperate deciduous forests, grasslands, pine forests, oak forests with sycamores, walnuts and alders, often in disturbed areas. | Grasslands, oak forests, oak-mesquite woodlands, oak-juniper communities, rarely entering desert scrub. |
Elevation | 0–2600 m. (0–8500 ft.) | 1000–2000 m. (3300–6600 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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AZ; NM; TX; Mexico
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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 indivisa is characteristic of grasslands and oak woodlands from extreme western Texas to southeastern Arizona. The species is often treated as a synonym of E. dioeca Kunth, but the two species are readily separable on the basis of their seeds. The seeds of E. indivisa possess deep transverse sulci, whereas those of E. dioeca are merely rippled or with low transverse ridges. Euphorbia dioeca is a weedy species that occurs widely throughout tropical America but has yet to be encountered within the flora area. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 292. | FNA vol. 12, p. 273. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Chamaesyce rothrockii, C. vermiculata, E. rothrockii | E. dioeca var. indivisa, Chamaesyce indivisa |
Name authority | Rafinesque: Amer. Monthly Mag. & Crit. Rev. 2: 206. (1818) | (Engelmann) Tidestrom: Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 48: 40. (1935) |
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