Euphorbia chamaesyce

Last updated

Euphorbia chamaesyce
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. chamaesyce
Binomial name
Euphorbia chamaesyce
L.

Euphorbia chamaesyce, is an annual plant in the family Euphorbiaceae. It is native to North Africa, Europe and Asia. [1]

Contents

Description

A mat-forming annual Euphorbia, hairy or hairless, with oblique-based leaves. Fruits, 2 mm, are covered with projecting hairs (not just at the edges), or no hairs, bumpless. The leaves are weakly toothed or toothless, to 7(11) x 4.5(6) mm, leaf tips not pointed, slightly to rather greyish (glaucous) on 1 mm stalks. 'Flower' effect is formed of small but prominent white/pinkish appendages to the rounded yellowish/reddish floral glands. Seeds 1.2 mm, ovoid-quadrangular, irregularly tuberculate-rugulose, pale greyish.

In Europe similar plants are the other mat-forming Euphorbia, of which the fruit if hairy is the best distinguisher.

Subspecies as Flora Europaea has them -

ssp chamaesyce - hairless or pubescent, leaves smaller (<10mm) and rather roundish, often untoothed, tip usually notched. Petal-like appendages to glands up to twice the gland in width (so not more prominent than the gland), edge usually unlobed.

ssp massiliensis (DC.) Thell. - villous, leaves larger (to 10 mm), elongated, finely toothed (serrulate), tip rounded. Petal-like appendages to glands more than twice the gland in width (more prominent than the gland), edge often 3-lobed.

Sources: Flora Europaea, [2] Flora of Turkey [3]

Habitat

Europe: Open habitats. [2]

Turkey: Rocky hillsides, scree, gravel plains, saline and sandy soils, streamsides, lake shores, disturbed habitats, 0–1600 m. [3]

Related Research Articles

<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>Chamaesyce</i> Genus of flowering plants

Chamaesyce is a genus 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 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.

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 micromera</i> Species of plant in the family Euphorbiaceae

Euphorbia micromera is a species of flowering plant in the family Euphorbiaceae. It is known by the common name Sonoran sandmat. It is native to the southwestern United States from California to Texas, and northern Mexico, where it grows in sandy soils in desert and other dry habitat. It is an annual herb forming a small mat of slender stems. The hairy to hairless leaves are oblong in shape and just a few millimeters long. The tiny inflorescence is a cyathium less than a millimeter wide. It lacks the appendages that many similar species have in their cyathia. It has only a central female flower and 2 to 5 male flowers surrounded by round red nectar glands. The fruit is a minute round capsule.

<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 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 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.

<i>Limnanthes floccosa</i> Species of flowering plant

Limnanthes floccosa, or woolly meadowfoam, is a species of meadowfoam found in Northern California and Southern Oregon, in the United States. Most of the subspecies have highly restricted distributions and are listed as critical or endangered.

<i>Euphorbia characias</i> Species of flowering plant in the spurge family Euphorbiaceae

Euphorbia characias, the Mediterranean spurge or Albanian spurge, is a species of flowering plant in the family Euphorbiaceae typical of the Mediterranean vegetation. It is an upright, compact evergreen shrub growing to 1.2 m tall and wide.

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

Euphorbia garberi is a rare species of flowering plant in the euphorb family known by the common name Garber's spurge. It is endemic to Florida, where there are 17 known occurrences, fourteen of which are located on fourteen separate islands of the Florida Keys. The populations vary in size, with four containing fewer than 20 plants each and one containing over one million. The plant has been reduced to a small portion of its former distribution and remaining populations are threatened by a number of processes. This is a federally listed threatened species of the United States.

Euphorbia condylocarpa is a plant species in the genus Euphorbia.

<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>Otholobium swartbergense</i> Shrublet in the family Fabaceae from South Africa

Otholobium swartbergense is a small spreading shrub assigned to the Pea family. All green parts are covered in hairs. It has many slender stems that are woody at their base, alternately set clover-like leaves and heads consisting of 6-15 mauve to purple, pea-like flowers on long peduncles in the axils of the leaves. This species is an endemic of the Swartberg mountains in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It mostly flowers in November and December.

Otholobium dreweae is an upright shrublet assigned to the Pea family of about 15 cm (5.9 in) high, that appears after the vegetation burned down from the underground rootstock and forms mat-like clumps of hardly branching, leafy stems. The stems are set with stiff, entire, alternate leaves with a single leaflet and heads consisting of 12-18 initially dark pink, later white, pea-like flowers with a white nectar guide on a peduncle as long as the leaves at the end of the stem. This species is an endemic of the Kleinrivier Mountains in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It mostly flowers in November.

<i>Otholobium nitens</i> Shrub in the family Fabaceae from South Africa

Otholobium nitens is an upright, densely branched shrub of up to 1.5 m high that is assigned to the Pea family. It has one to many initially softly hairy stems, alternately set, clover-like, upright leaves crowding the new shoots, and heads consisting of 3 pea-like, dark purple to mauve flowers on short peduncles in the axils of the leaves on short side-shoots. This species is an endemic of the mountains between Ceres and Hottentots Holland in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It mostly flowers between October and late December.

<i>Otholobium spissum</i> Shrub in the family Fabaceae from South Africa

Otholobium spissum is a dense, tangled, much branched shrub of up to 185 cm (73 in) high that is assigned to the Pea family. It has dull green, clover-like leaves and white, pea-like flowers with a streaky, triangular, purple nectar guide. The species grows in renosterveld in the central mountains of the Western Cape province of South Africa. This species flowers in July and August.

<i>Otholobium lanceolatum</i> Shrublet in the family Fabaceae from South Africa

Otholobium lanceolatum is a small subshrub of up to 20 cm (7.9 in) high, that is assigned to the Pea family. It has up to 7 horizontal stems with raised tips, few hairless, alternately set leaves with only one leaflet and clusters of 15-27 white, pea-like flowers with a purple tip near the top of the short, seasonal shoots. It is endemic to one site near Caledon, South Africa. Flowers only appear in November and December within one year after a fire destroyed the vegetation.

Euphorbia taurinensis is a species of flowering plant in the family Euphorbiaceae.

References

  1. "Plants of the World Online (Map)".
  2. 1 2 Tutin. Flora Europaea, vol. 2.
  3. 1 2 Davis. Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, vol. 7.