Biorepository Data Portal

Jepson 1993, Kearney and Peebles 1969

Duration: Annual Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Erect annual 10-65 cm tall, glabrous, stem branched from near base, slender branches green or faintly tinged red, internodes 1.5-5 cm or occasionally to 7 cm. Leaves: Linear, 0.5-3 mm wide, 0.5-6 cm long, remotely serrulate, revolute in age, on petioles 1.5-2.5 mm long. Flowers: Cyathia 1 to several at nodes, on peduncles 1-3 mm long, campanulate involucre 1.5-2 mm diameter, 2 mm high at anthesis, glabrous without, densely pubescent with straight white hairs around inner rim; lobes of cyathia triangular-acuminate, entire or toothed, about 0.3 mm high; discoid glands, 4 of them 0.5 mm, fifth filiform, nearly equaling lobes; appendages white or pink, obovate to elliptic 1-2.8 mm long. Fruits: Capsule rounded-triangular in cross-section, oblate-globose 2.5 mm diameter, glabrous. Ecology: On arid flats, washes, and hillsides from 2,000-5,000 ft (610-1524 m); flowers August-November. Distribution: AZ; south to n MEX. Notes: Distinguished by being erect, glabrous, erect annual 0.25 to 0.75m; the opposite, linear, serrate leaves; the showy, white to reddish petaloid appendages, much larger than other regional Euphorbia; and roundly to bluntly 3-lobed, glabrous fruits. Ethnobotany: Unknown for this species, other species in genera have medicinal use. Etymology: Euphorbia is named for Euphorbus, Greek physician of Juba II, King of Mauretania, florida means free-flowering or bright. Synonyms: Euphorbia florida Editor: SBuckley 2010, FSCoburn 2015