Euphorbia villifera |
Euphorbia antisyphilitica |
|
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hairy spurge |
candelilla, wax plant |
|
Habit | Herbs, annual or perennial, with slender taproot or thickened, woody rootstock. | Shrubs, with much-branched, fleshy rootstock. |
Stems | usually erect to ascending, rarely prostrate to decumbent, 10–30 cm, papillate, usually villous, sometimes glabrous. |
erect, few branched, 25–50(–100) cm, glabrous or puberulent, pencil-like, in age covered with flaky, exfoliating layer of wax. |
Leaves | opposite; stipules distinct, filiform, usually undivided, rarely divided into 2–3 segments), 0.3–0.7 mm, glabrous, papillate; petiole 0.6–1.8 mm, usually villous, rarely glabrous; blade ovate, 3–12 × 2–10 mm, base asymmetric, rounded to slightly cordate, margins entire or serrulate, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces usually villous, rarely glabrous; only midvein conspicuous. |
alternate usually caducous, sometimes persisting; stipules 0.4–0.5 mm; petiole absent; blade ovate to deltate-subulate, 2.5–4 × 1 mm, thick, fleshy, base usually rounded and swollen, rarely cuneate, margins entire, apex acute, surfaces puberulent, adaxial sometimes canescent; venation inconspicuous. |
Involucre | campanulate, 0.7–0.9 × 0.6–1 mm, glabrous or pilose; glands 4, pink, oval, oblong, or trapezoidal, 0.1–0.2 × 0.2 mm; appendages white to pink, flabellate, oblong, ovate, or nearly rectangular, 0.2–0.4 × 0.2–0.6 mm, distal margin entire. |
campanulate, 1.6–2.2 × 1.6–1.9 mm, puberulent to canescent; glands 5, pinkish, narrowly oblong to reniform, 0.3–0.4 × 0.8–1 mm; appendages white to pink, ovate, oblong, or transversely oblong, 1.3–2.5 × 1.4–2.5 mm, usually erose, rarely entire. |
Staminate flowers | 10–25. |
50–70. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.3–0.5 mm, 2-fid 1/2 to nearly entire length. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.9–1.1 mm, 2-fid nearly entire length. |
Capsules | oblate-deltoid, cocci often elongated and terminating in an empty portion, 1.5–2 × 2.1–3.1 mm, glabrous; columella 0.9–1.5 mm. |
oblong to ovoid, 3.9–4.2 × 3.6–3.9 mm, glabrous; columella 3.1–3.3 mm. |
Seeds | gray-brown to red-brown, ovoid-oblong, weakly 4-angled in cross section, 1–1.4 × 0.6–0.8 mm, smooth, faintly rugose, or with inconspicuous transverse ridges. |
whitish gray, narrowly ovoid, 2.4–3.1 × 1.4–1.6 mm, irregularly rugose-tuberculate; caruncle crescent-shaped, 0.3–0.6 × 0.6–0.8 mm. |
Cyathia | solitary at distal nodes; peduncles 0–1.8 mm. |
in axillary congested cymes, near branch tips or solitary at distal nodes; peduncle 0–1 mm, lanulose. |
Euphorbia villifera |
Euphorbia antisyphilitica |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting early spring–early winter. | Flowering and fruiting year-round in response to sufficient rainfall. |
Habitat | Riparian forests with walnuts and sycamores, juniper woodlands, pine-oak woodlands, mostly on limestone substrates. | Desert scrub, frequently on limestone substrates. |
Elevation | 100–1400 m. (300–4600 ft.) | 100–1200 m. (300–3900 ft.) |
Distribution |
TX; Mexico; Central America |
NM; TX; Mexico
|
Discussion | Although Euphorbia villifera has been reported from New Mexico (W. C. Martin and C. R. Hutchins 1980), no vouchers to verify its presence there were located. In Texas, E. villifera is known from the Edwards Plateau westward into the trans-Pecos region. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Euphorbia antisyphilitica is the only pencil-stemmed species of Euphorbia occurring in the flora area. The species is characteristic of the Chihuahuan Desert scrub of Mexico from Chihuahua and Coahuila south to Hidalgo and Querétaro, and barely enters into the United States in southern New Mexico (Doña Ana and Lincoln counties) and southwest (Brewster, Hudspeth, Presidio, and Terrell counties) and south (Starr and Webb counties) Texas. The stems are covered in a conspicuous coat of exfoliating wax, and the plants historically have been harvested for this product, although the practice is much less prevalent now. The specific epithet refers to its traditional medicinal use in treating sexually transmitted infections. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 293. | FNA vol. 12, p. 243. |
Parent taxa | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Anisophyllum | Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia > sect. Alectoroctonum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Chamaesyce stanfieldii, C. villifera, E. stanfieldii, E. villifera var. nuda | |
Name authority | Scheele: Linnaea 22: 153. (1849) | Zuccarini: Flora 15(2, Beibl.): 58. (1832) |
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