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Published In: Nova Genera et Species Plantarum (quarto ed.) 2: 52. 1817. (Nov. Gen. Sp. (quarto ed.)) Name publication detailView in BotanicusView in Biodiversity Heritage Library
 

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 8/11/2017)
Acceptance : Accepted
Project Data     (Last Modified On 7/9/2009)
Status: Native

 

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17. Euphorbia serpens Kunth (round-leaved spurge)

Chamaesyce serpens (Kunth) Small

Map 1679, Pl. 381 k–m

Plants annual, with taproots. Stems (2–)5–30(–40) cm long, prostrate, several- to many-branched, the branches often overlapping (plants loosely mat-forming), not flattened toward the tip, tan to yellowish green, sometimes slightly pinkish-tinged, glabrous. Leaves opposite, sessile or very short-petiolate. Stipules small scales 0.7–1.3 mm long, those from the adjacent leaf in each pair fused into a single, small, scalelike structure on each side of the stem positioned between the leaf bases, this often appearing irregularly fringed or lobed. Leaf blades 2–8 mm long, oblong-ovate to broadly ovate or nearly circular, asymmetrically rounded to shallowly cordate at the base with the side toward the branch base usually slightly expanded into a small, rounded auricle, rounded at the tip, the margins entire, both surfaces glabrous, the upper surface usually light green to yellowish green, the undersurface usually pale grayish green. Inflorescences axillary, of solitary cyathia or appearing as small clusters on short axillary branches. Involucre 0.7–1.0 mm long, glabrous, the rim shallowly 4-lobed or 4-toothed, the marginal glands 4, 0.3–0.6 mm long and more or less equal in size, the body oblong to narrowly oblong, yellowish green to green, with a relatively inconspicuous petaloid appendage 0.3–0.7 mm long, this white to somewhat pinkish-tinged. Staminate flowers 3–8(–12) per cyathium. Ovaries glabrous, the styles 0.2–0.4 mm long, each divided 1/8–1/2 of the way from the tip into 2 slightly club-shaped lobes. Fruits 1.0–1.5 mm long, glabrous. Seeds 0.9–1.2 mm long, oblong-ovate to ovate in outline, bluntly angular in cross-section, slightly convex at the base, the surface smooth, white to brown, lacking a caruncle. 2n=22. May–October.

Scattered, most commonly in counties adjacent to the Missouri and Mississippi River floodplains, but also sporadically in the Glaciated Plains and Unglaciated Plains Divisions (U.S. [introduced in some eastern and far-western states], Canada, Mexico, Central America, South America, Caribbean Islands). Banks of streams and rivers, exposed margins of ponds and lakes, sloughs, oxbows, and rarely moist depressions of glades; also ditches, margins of crop fields, roadsides and open, disturbed areas.

 


 

 
 
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