Biorepository Data Portal

Wiggins 1964, Jepson 1993, Kearney and Peebles 1969

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Prostrate to erect perennial from a slender woody taproot, 5-30 cm long, pilose with slender, often clavate hairs. Leaves: Blades ovate, ovate-oblong, or deltoid-ovate, acute to rounded at apex, somewhat oblique at base, 1-10 mm, margins entire and often faintly revolute, minute stipules. Flowers: On peduncles 1-4 mm long, cyathia solitary or nearly so, involucres long-turbinate to urceolate, 0.6-0.8 mm in diameter, 1.2-1.5 mm long, sparsely pilosulous without, glabrous within, subulate lobes equaling lands, ciliate-margined; red glands, transversely oblong, oval appendages, 0.5-1 mm long, white with a roseate tinge, sometimes cordate; 5-12 staminate flowers per cyathia. Fruits: Subspherical capsule, about 1.5 mm in diameter, lobed and faintly hairy. Ecology: Found on gravelly slopes and rocky hillsides from 1,000-4,000 (305-1219 m); flowers March-November. Distribution: CA to TX; south to MEX Notes: As with all species in the genus, difficult to tell apart. Pay attention first to its being perennial and as a consequence having many more flowers, second look at the entire to crenulate petaloid appendages, and finally to the mostly club-shaped hairs. Ethnobotany: Unknown, but other species in the genera have many uses. Etymology: Euphorbia is named for Euphorbus, Greek physician of Juba II, King of Mauretania, while arizonica means of or from Arizona. Synonyms: Chamaesyce versicolor, Euphorbia arizonica, Euphorbia versicolor Editor: SBuckley, 2010