Euphorbia villifera |
Euphorbia perennans |
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hairy spurge |
perennial sandmat, Terlingua spurge |
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Habit | Herbs, annual or perennial, with slender taproot or thickened, woody rootstock. | Herbs, perennial, with strongly thickened, woody rootstock. |
Stems | usually erect to ascending, rarely prostrate to decumbent, 10–30 cm, papillate, usually villous, sometimes glabrous. |
erect, 7–45 cm, glabrous. |
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. |
opposite; stipules distinct, linear-filiform in (1–)2(–3) segments, 0.3–0.4 mm, glabrous; petiole 0.8–2 mm, glabrous; blade ovate or orbiculate-deltate to reniform-deltate, 5–17 × 4–16 mm midstem leaves largest, base symmetric, cuneate, rounded to cordate, margins entire, apex acute to rounded, surfaces glabrous, often glaucous; 3-veined from base, only midvein conspicuous. |
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. |
broadly-campanulate to hemispheric, 1.7–2.2 × 1.5–2.7 mm, glabrous; glands 4, green to yellow-green, elliptic to oblong, folded longitudinally, 0.3–0.5 × 0.7–1.4 mm; appendages absent. |
Staminate flowers | 10–25. |
35–45. |
Pistillate flowers | ovary glabrous; styles 0.3–0.5 mm, 2-fid 1/2 to nearly entire length. |
ovary glabrous; styles 0.7–0.9 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. |
subglobose to broadly ovoid, 2.8–3.3 × 2.8–3.4 mm, glabrous; columella 2.2–2.7 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. |
white to light brown, ovoid, 3–4-angled in cross section, 2–2.4 × 1–1.2 mm, smooth to faintly transverse-wrinkled. |
Cyathia | solitary at distal nodes; peduncles 0–1.8 mm. |
solitary at distal nodes or at nodes of short, axillary branches; peduncle 1.8–3 mm. |
Euphorbia villifera |
Euphorbia perennans |
|
Phenology | Flowering and fruiting early spring–early winter. | Flowering and fruiting spring–fall. |
Habitat | Riparian forests with walnuts and sycamores, juniper woodlands, pine-oak woodlands, mostly on limestone substrates. | Desert scrub, on cretaceous and gypseous clay, limestone hills and flats. |
Elevation | 100–1400 m. (300–4600 ft.) | 900–1200 m. (3000–3900 ft.) |
Distribution |
TX; Mexico; Central America |
TX; Mexico (Chihuahua) |
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 perennans is a distinctive species with an erect habit and relatively large, firm, deltate midstem leaves. Phylogenetic data place E. perennans in a clade of primarily Chihuahuan Desert annual and perennial species (for example, E. chaetocalyx, E. fendleri, E. golondrina, E. simulans, E. spurca, and E. theriaca; Y. Yang and P. E. Berry 2011). Euphorbia perennans is known in the flora area only from Brewster County. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 293. | FNA vol. 12, p. 282. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Chamaesyce stanfieldii, C. villifera, E. stanfieldii, E. villifera var. nuda | Chamaesyce perennans |
Name authority | Scheele: Linnaea 22: 153. (1849) | (Shinners) Warnock & M. C. Johnston: SouthW. Naturalist 5: 170. (1960) |
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