WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

 

Erect, slightly hairy stems reach 8-inches tall with clusters of tiny flowers at branch tips or leaf nodes. Note the opposite leaves, hairy seed capsules, and tiny, white, petal-like lobes in the modified flowers (use lens). All Euphorbias contain a toxic, milky latex sap that can cause dermatitis.


FLOWERS: July–September. Flowers highly modified into a tiny, cup-like structure with 5 white, 2–4 lobed, petal-like appendages (use lens). Fruit is a 3-sided, hairy capsule that develops on a short, drooping stem from each female flower.


LEAVES: Opposite. Leaf stems (petioles) short or indistinct from tapering base of blade, entire leaf 3/4–3-inches long (2–8 cm); shape variable from linear to spatula- or lance-shaped, margins finely-toothed in upper half, tip pointed or rounded, surfaces hairy.


HABITAT: Dry sandy, gravelly soils, disturbed areas; desert grasslands and scrub, juniper savannas.


ELEVATION: 3,300–6,800 feet.)


RANGE: AZ, CA, NM, TX.


SIMILAR SPECIES: Toothed Spurge, E. davidii, is very similar but the flower cup doesn’t have tiny, white, petal-like glands (use lens). Hairy-fruit Spurge, E. cuphosperma, has hairy seed capsules but no tiny, white, petal-like lobes.


NM COUNTIES: Southern and western halves of NM in low- to mid-elevation arid habitats: Bernalillo, Cibola, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Luna, McKinley, Otero, Rio Arriba, Roosevelt, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Torrance.

SQUARE-SEED  SPURGE

EUPHORBIA  EXSTIPULATA

Spurge Family, Euphorbiaceae

Annual herb

1. Tiny, white petal-like lobes (upper arrow)

2. Hairy, three-sided capsule on drooping stem (lower arrow).

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