Biorepository Data Portal

Wiggins 1964, Jepson 1993, Kearney and Peebles 1969

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Decumbent to ascending perennial with closely and minutely tomentose stems to 20 cm long, lower parts soon glabrate. Leaves: Ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 2-9 mm long, oblique basally, entire, closely and finely tomentose on both surfaces; on petioles 1-2 mm long, with stipules 1 mm long, ventral ones usually connate, dorsal ones distinct. Flowers: Solitary cyathia on very short peduncles, campanulate involucres, 1.2-1.5 mm in diameter, appressed-stiff hairs without and just below glands within, lobes narrowly deltoid, equaling glands, hairy; glands reddish, oblong; appendages usually twice as wide as glands, white, entire to crenate-margined, or appendages sometimes lacking; u-shaped sinus, densely hairy; 3-4 staminate flowers in each fascicle, 15-20 in a cyathium. Fruits: Short tomentose, ovoid and lobed capsule, 1.5-1.7 mm long. Ecology: Found on dry, rocky slopes or flats, and along washes from 500-5,000 ft (152-1524 m); flowers throughout the year. Notes: These plants are generally erect or ascending, but on open flats, particularly in disturbed soil they are nearly prostrate. Ethnobotany: Used for bee stings, sores, and earaches. Etymology: Euphorbia is named for Euphorbus, Greek physician of Juba II, King of Mauretania, while melanadenia is of uncertain origin. Synonyms: Euphorbia melanadenia Editor: SBuckley, 2010