Euphorbia albomarginata

Last updated

Euphorbia albomarginata
Chamaesyce albomarginata 4.jpg
Status TNC G5.svg
Secure  (NatureServe) [1]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Genus: Euphorbia
Species:
E. albomarginata
Binomial name
Euphorbia albomarginata
Synonyms [2]
  • Chamaesyce albomarginata(Torr. & A.Gray) Small
  • Chamaesyce hartwegiana(Boiss.) Small
  • Euphorbia hartwegianaBoiss.
  • Euphorbia stipulaceaEngelm. ex Boiss. nom. illeg.

Euphorbia albomarginata (formerly Chamaesyce albomarginata), whitemargin sandmat or rattlesnake weed, is a small low-growing perennial, in the spurge family (Euphorbia, Euphorbiaceae) native to desert, chaparral, and grassland habitats of southwestern North America, from southern and central California to Northern Mexico and Louisiana.

Contents

It can be easily identified by its small size, dusty green leaves, very flattened growth pattern, and the white circular margin around the edge of its burgundy centered flowers. It is one of four members of the former Chamaesyce genus that are native to the Santa Monica Mountains, in addition to three species that have been introduced there, most of which share to some degree or other the white margin on the flower. [3] As with other typical members of the Euphorbia family, it has a white milky sap, and is poisonous. It is one of only 11 members of the Euphorbia native to California, and one of four native to the Santa Monica Mountains. [4]

Description

Euphorbia albomarginata is a common ground cover plant, usually growing less than 1/2 in (13 mm) high, with individual plants covering about a square foot, often growing closely and forming mats of vegetation. The flowers of this plant are tiny and edged in white, with a purplish center. It can be found in open fields, on roadsides, or anywhere where the ground is disturbed, including ornamental gravels in suburban yards, where it is considered as a weed.

The former genus name Chamaesyce comes from the Greek word "chame", meaning "on the ground", and "syce" meaning "fig". This refers to the growth pattern of being flattened in all aspects, as if a box had been placed on it, so as to be lying very close to the ground. [3] One of the defining chaparral plants, Chamise ( Adenostoma fasciculatum ), derives from the same word.[ citation needed ]

The flower has a circular burgundy center with a white ring around it. The epithet "albomarginata" (white-margined) refers to the "white" ringed "margin" of the flower "petals". The plant actually has no petals, but has modified leaves called "bracts", more round that the green leaves on the rest of the plant, which form a cuplike shape. The 12–30 male flowers are difficult to see, consisting only of one stamen each, and are clustered in the center of the cup. The single female flower is at the center, with an elevated ovary pendant on a long stalk, which when fertilized and mature, bears a capsule fruit, and so the name "syce" ("fig").

The leaves are round to heart shaped with the point of the heart away (ovoid) from the small stem attaching the leaf to the branch (petiole). The "nonflower leaves" are a peculiar "dusty green", with green but sometimes with burgundyish edges, and burgundyish stems, similar in color to the flower center inside the white ring, and particularly so after a late Spring or Summer rain.

Uses

The plant was formerly used as a folk remedy for snakebites (as a poultice or brewed as a tea) – hence the common name "rattlesnake weed". However, this species is not proven to be medically effective in treating rattlesnake venom. Like most spurges, rattlesnake weed secretes an acrid, milky sap containing alkaloids poisonous to humans, with emetic and cathartic properties that may be misconstrued as curative.

Among the Zuni people, the leaves and roots are eaten to promote lactation. [5]

Other names

Related Research Articles

<i>Euphorbia</i> Genus of flowering plants in the spurge family Euphorbiaceae

Euphorbia is a very large and diverse genus of flowering plants, commonly called spurge, in the family Euphorbiaceae. "Euphorbia" is sometimes used in ordinary English to collectively refer to all members of Euphorbiaceae, not just to members of the genus.

<i>Euphorbia esula</i> Species of plant

Euphorbia esula, commonly known as green spurge or leafy spurge, is a species of spurge native to central and southern Europe, and eastward through most of Asia north of the Himalaya to Korea and eastern Siberia. It can also be found in some parts of Alaska.

<i>Euphorbia heterophylla</i> Species of plant in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to tropical and subtropical America

Euphorbia heterophylla, also known under the common names of Mexican fireplant, painted euphorbia, Japanese poinsettia, paintedleaf, painted spurge and milkweed, is a plant belonging to the Euphorbiaceae or spurge family.

<i>Chamaesyce</i> Genus of flowering plants

Chamaesyce is a subgenus of plants in the family Euphorbiaceae. Recent phylogenetic studies have shown that Chamaesyce is deeply nested within the broader Euphorbia. Specifically, Chamaesyce is very closely related to plants like Euphorbia pulcherrima, the popular poinsettia. Currently, all species have now been reclassified as species of Euphorbia. Specifically, this group now belongs to Euphorbia subgenus Chamaesyce section Anisophyllum. Taxonomically speaking, Chamaesyce is considered a synonym of Euphorbia.

<i>Euphorbia maculata</i> Species of plant

Euphorbia maculata, known as spotted spurge, prostrate spurge, milk purslane, or spotted sandmat, is a fast-growing annual plant in the family Euphorbiaceae. While it is native to North America, where it is a common garden and lawn weed in the United States, it has become a common introduced species throughout the world, including Europe, Japan, Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.

<i>Euphorbia corollata</i> Species of flowering plant

Euphorbia corollata is an herbaceous perennial plant in the family Euphorbiaceae that is native to North America. A common name for the species is flowering spurge. It has a milky sap that can cause skin and eye irritation in some people. It grows up to 1 m (3 ft) tall, with smooth stems and light green leaves arranged alternately or in whorls. Leaves are about 10 mm wide and 75 mm (3 in) long. Each stem terminates in a panicle 20 to 25 mm across. Flowers are about 6 mm across and consist of one pistillate and several staminate flowers surrounded by five white bracts - not petals but formed from the involucre at the base of the flowers. Flowering spurge blooms from June to September.

<i>Euphorbia misera</i> Species of flowering plant

Euphorbia misera is a semi-succulent shrub in the genus Euphorbia commonly known as the cliff spurge or coast spurge. A drought-deciduous shrub, it is typically found as a gnarled, straggly plant occupying seashore bluffs, hills and deserts. Like other members of its genus, it has a milky sap, which can be found exuding out of the light gray bark when damaged. The alternately-arranged leaves are round and folded in the middle, with small hairs on them. The "flowers" can be found blooming year-round, and are colored maroon or yellow in the center with 5 white to light-yellow petal-like appendages attached outside. This species is native to the Baja California peninsula and Sonora in Mexico, and the coast of southern California in the United States, where it is a rare species. It is threatened in some localities by the development of its coastal habitat, which tends to be prime locations for high-end residential and commercial developments.

<i>Euphorbia polycarpa</i> Species of flowering plant

Euphorbia polycarpa is a species of spurge known by the common name smallseed sandmat. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, especially the deserts and other dry, sandy areas. This is a perennial herb producing stems that trail along the ground to form a clump or mat, sometimes growing somewhat upright. The leaves are each under a centimeter long. They are round or oval-shaped and have triangular stipules at the bases. What looks like a single flower is actually an inflorescence of many staminate (male) flowers united around a single central pistillate (female) flower. Bracts surrounding the flower unit are white and petal-like. The fruit is a thin spherical capsule less than 2 millimeters wide layered over a seed.

Euphorbia hooveri is a species of euphorb known by the common names Hoover's sandmat and Hoover's spurge. It is endemic to California, where it grows in the rare vernal pools of the Central Valley. Due to the elimination of most of its habitat, it became a federally listed threatened species in 1997.

<i>Euphorbia melanadenia</i> Species of flowering plant

Euphorbia melanadenia is a species of Euphorbia known by the common name red-gland spurge. It is native to the deserts and mountains of Baja California and southern California and Arizona, where it grows in dry, rocky habitat. It is a perennial herb forming a small clump or mat of very slender, tangling red stems. The stems are lined with pairs of slightly woolly oval-shaped leaves 2 to 9 millimeters wide. The tiny inflorescence is a cyathium less than 2 millimeters wide. The cyathium is a bell-shaped array of white, scalloped petal-like appendages surrounding the actual flowers. Each appendage has at its base a shiny red nectar gland. At the center of the appendages is a ring of male staminate flowers around a single female flower. The female flower develops into an oval-shaped fruit which bears wrinkled white seeds.

<i>Euphorbia nutans</i> Species of flowering plant

Euphorbia nutans is a species of Euphorbia known by the common names eyebane and nodding spurge. It is native to much of the United States, Eastern Canada, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and Venezuela.

<i>Euphorbia prostrata</i> Species of flowering plant

Euphorbia prostrata is a species of spurge known by the common name prostrate spurge or prostrate sandmat.

<i>Euphorbia revoluta</i> Species of flowering plant

Euphorbia revoluta is a species of euphorb known by the common name threadstem sandmat. It is native to Mexico and the southwestern United States from California to the Rocky Mountains. It is an annual herb producing thin, erect stems with pairs of linear leaves, each leaf up to 2.6 centimeters long. The inflorescence is a cyathium with rounded nectar glands surrounding one female flower and several male flowers. There are sometimes white petal-like appendages as well. The Navajo used this plant as a skin lotion.

<i>Euphorbia serpens</i> Species of flowering plant

Euphorbia serpens is a species of Euphorbia known by the common name matted sandmat. It is native to South America but it can be found on most continents as an introduced species and often a weed. This is an annual herb forming a mat of prostrate stems which root at nodes where the stem comes in contact with the ground. The oval leaves occur in oppositely arranged pairs, each leaf less than a centimeter long. The inflorescence is a cyathium with scalloped white petal-like appendages surrounding the actual flowers. A red nectar gland is at the base of each appendage, and at the center of the cyathium are several male flowers around one female flower. The fruit is a lobed, spherical capsule.

<i>Euphorbia serpyllifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

Euphorbia serpyllifolia is a species of euphorb known by the common names thymeleaf sandmat or thyme-leafed spurge. It is native to a large part of North America from Canada to Mexico, where it is a common member of the flora in many types of habitat. This is an annual herb growing as a prostrate mat or taking a somewhat erect form. The oblong leaves are up to about 1.5 centimeters long, sometimes hairy and finely toothed along the edges. The tiny inflorescence is a cyathium about a millimeter wide. It bears scalloped white petal-like appendages arranged around the actual flowers. At the center are several male flowers and one female flower, which develops into a lobed, oval fruit up to 2 millimeters wide. This plant had a number of traditional medicinal uses for many Native American groups.

This is a list of plants and how they are used in Zuni culture.

<i>Euphorbia missurica</i> Species of flowering plant

Euphorbia missurica, commonly called prairie sandmat, or Missouri spurge, is a species of flowering plant in the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae). It is native to North America, where it is found primarily in area of the Great Plains. Its natural habitat is in dry, often calcareous areas, including glades, bluffs, and open woodlands.

<i>Euphorbia hypericifolia</i> Species of spurge

Euphorbia hypericifolia is a species of perennial herb in the genus Euphorbia native to tropical Americas. It normally grows up to 2 feet (0.6 m) in height, and contains milky sap which can cause skin and eye irritation.

<i>Euphorbia angusta</i> Species of plant

Euphorbia angusta is a species in the Euphorbiaceae (spurge) family with the common name blackfoot sandmat. It is native to central and south Texas and northern Mexico.

References

  1. NatureServe (2024). "Euphorbia albomarginata". Arlington, Virginia. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
  2. The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species , retrieved 1 October 2015
  3. 1 2 3 Flowering Plants of the Santa Monica Mountains, Rattlesnake Weed, Coastal, and Chaparral Regions of California, Nancy Dale, p. 107, 1985, ISBN   0-943460-40-9
  4. Flowering Plants of the Santa Monica Mountains, Nancy Drew, p. 106, 1985, ISBN   0-943460-40-9
  5. Camazine, Scott and Robert A. Bye, 1980. A Study Of The Medical Ethnobotany Of The Zuni Indians of New Mexico. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 2:365–388 (p. 376)

Additional references