MELASTOMATACEAE

Ours herbs (elsewhere also shrubs, trees, and vines). Stems often 4-angled. Leaves opposite, simple, often with 3 to 9 prominent, nearly parallel veins; ours estipulate. Flowers cymose, perfect, regular, mostly 4- or 5-merous, perigynous, hypanthium variously shaped. Sepals valvate on the rim of the hypanthium. Petals convolute in bud. Stamens usually in 2 whorls, often dimorphic, in ours usually twice as many as the petals, filaments commonly twisted to one side of the flower at anthesis, anthers variously dehiscent, sometimes appendaged. Ovary with (2)3 to 5(15) carpels and as many locules, rarely unilocular. Fruit a many-seeded capsule (as in ours) or berry. Seeds usually small, without endosperm, cotyledons unequal.

About 215 genera and 4,750 species of tropical and subtropical regions, especially S. America; 1 genus with 5 species in TX; 2 species in our area.

Some taxa have food, timber, dye, or ornamental uses (Mabberley 1987).

Perennial herbs, some suffrutescent, from rather woody caudices, rhizomes, rhizomes, tubers, or some combination thereof. Stems 1 to several, simple or branched, sometimes spongy-thickened below or with a shredding epidermis, round below, more or less 4-angled above, edges winged or unwinged and faces concave to convex, often the opposite pairs different, glabrous to glandular pubescent and/or hirsute. Leaves opposite, decussate, sessile or short-petiolate, commonly with 3 major palmate, parallel veins, blades suborbicular to linear-lanceolate, margins ciliate to serrate. Flowers in cymes (rarely solitary and not in ours), showy, few to many, sessile or with pedicels shorter than the hypanthium, subtended by bracts similar to the leaves but smaller and often deciduous. Hypanthium essentially urceolate below, constricted above and then more or less expanding above the neck, composed of 2 layers, fused to the ovary so the gynoecium mostly inferior, but at anthesis the 2 layers separating and the capsule appearing superior. Calyx lobes 4, on the outer layer of the hypanthium, erect to recurved. Petals 4, borne on the inner layer of the hypanthium, free, asymmetrical with the right side larger than the left, short-clawed, commonly tipped with a bristly extension of the midvein, ascending to spreading, fugacious, rose to purple or in some white or yellow. Stamens 8, in 2 whorls on the inner hypanthium layer, subequal, filaments slender, downcurving, usually all pulled to the bottom of the flower, each with a small appendage at the juncture with the anther; anthers basifixed, with terminal pores, straight to curved or sigmoid. Ovary fully enclosed in the hypanthium, 4-celled, placentation axile; style 1, linear, stigma truncate. Fruit a loculicidal capsule. Seeds many, in most TX material curved like a snail shell, surface adornment various.

11 species of N. Amer., chiefly in the SE. U.S. but one species extending to Canada and another to Mex.; 5 in TX; 2 here.

Some, but not usually ours, are cultivated for ornament (Mabberley 1987).

NOTE: Interspecific hybrids between some taxa, including ours, are common. In addition, vital stem characters are easily lost in pressing, so identifications should be made from fresh material if possible. A useful referemce is Kral and Bostick (1969).

1. Faces of midstem markedly unequal, one pair flat to concave, narrower and paler than the other pair, which are broader , convex to rounded, and darker green; neck of

hypanthium about as long as the body of the hypanthium; petals usually glabrous ...............

.............................................................................................................................1. R. mariana

var. mariana

1. Faces of midstem more or less equal, essentially flat, the angles sharp or winged so that the stem gives an impression of "square"; neck of hypanthium usually shorter than the body; petals usually with some hairs ................................................................2. R. virginica

1. R. mariana L. var. mariana Maryland Meadow-beauty. Plants from shallow, slender rhizomes; stems 2 to 20 dm tall, simple or with axillary branches in the upper 1/2, spreading-hirsute, opposite pairs of stem faces markedly unequal: one pair narrower, flat to convex, paler than the other pair which is broader, convex to rounded and darker, the stem giving the overall impression of "roundedness". Leaves short- petiolate, blades variously linear to lanceolate, elliptic, or narrowly ovate, the larger 2 to 4(6) cm long, acute to acuminate, basally acute to attenuate, margin serrate with apiculate or hair-tipped teeth, surface sparsely to densely appressed-hirsute, usually with 3 major veins (sometimes only 1). Cyme with few to many branches, mature hypanthia commonly secund on the interiors of the main branches. Calyx lobes triangular to lanceolate, acute to acuminate; petals oblong, obovate, or broadly cuneate, 12 to 15(18) mm long, white to lavender or in our area commonly rose-purple, glabrous. Mature hypanthium 6 to 10 mm long, body ovoid to globose, more or less evenly tapered into a cylindrical or slightly expanded neck equalling or slightly longer than the body, surface glabrous to moderately pubescent; seeds curved or coiled, ca. 0.7 mm long, longitudinally ridged, the ridges tuberculate, papillose, or with flattened domes, rarely smooth. Ditches, wet meadows and floodplains, bogs, seepage areas, edges of woods, savannahs, etc. where moist or wet. Throughout E. TX; MA to VA, KY, S. IN and S. IL, S. to FL and SW to SE. OK and TX. May-Sept.(Oct.) [Includes var. exalbida Michx. and var. leiosperma Fern. & Grisc.; R. lanceolata Walt.; R. delicatula Small; R. filiformis Small.]

Our most common Rhexia locally. Several other varieties are recognized. One other, var. interior (Penn.) Kral & Bostick, reaches TX (Kral and Bostick 1969) but is not present in our area as far as is now known. It is actually similar to R. virginica, below, in stem-face characters, but lacks the winged angles and has a hypanthium neck longer than the body [R. interior Penn.].

2. R. virginica L. Common Meadow-beauty, Handsome Harry. Plant from tubiferous or spongy-thickened rootstocks (these sometimes missed in collecting); stem simple or sparsely branched, to 1 m tall, at midstem 4-angled, the pairs of opposite faces more or less equal, essentially flat, the angles usually conspicuously winged, sparsely glandular pubescent, sometimes only so at the nodes. Leaves essentially sessile or with petioles to 5 mm long, ascending, ovate, elliptic or commonly lanceolate, 3 to 5(10) cm long, to 3.5 cm broad, acute to acuminate, base rounded to acute, often with more than 3 prominent veins, margins finely serrate with the teeth hair-tipped. Cymes with few to many flowers, open or contracted. Calyx lobes to 2.5 mm long, triangular to lanceolate, acute to acuminate; petals oblong to obovate, 1.5 to 2 cm long, lavender rose to dark rose or rose-purple, with glandular hairs at the tips, usually some hairs on the abaxial (lower) surface. Mature hypanthium 7 to 10 mm long, body globose, neck slightly shorter than the body, surface glabrous to sparsely glandular pubescent; seeds ca. 0.7 mm long, curved or coiled, the surface muriculate, papillose, or tuberculate in concentric lines. Seepage slopes and bogs in E. TX, known from Robertson Co. and to be looked for in our other bogs; N. S. to S. Ont., S. WI, and E. IA, S. to FL and TX. Jun.-Oct. [Includes var. purshii (Spreng.) James and var. septemnerva (Walt.) Pursh; R. stricta Pursh].

Shrubs or trees (rarely herbs). Leaves alternate or opposite, simple, entire or essentially so, estipulate, usually deciduous. Flowers small, regular, perfect or unisexual, 4- or 5-merous, often in cymose arrangements, sometimes subtended by showy bracts. Calyx small or rudimentary. Petals 0 or 4 or 5. Stamens 4 to 12, sometimes in 2 series, filaments elongate; anthers introrse. Ovary inferior, of (1)2 to 4(5) carpels, styles 1 or 2, locules 1 or 2. Fruit drupe-like, with 1 to 5 locules and usually 1 pyrene per locule.

As treated here the family includes the Nyssaceae and comprises 3 genera and 7 species in TX; 2 genera and 3 species here. The trend in recent years has been to separate the Nyssaceae from the Cornaceae on the basis of various factors, including the 5-merous perianth of the Nyssaceae. However, the two groups are undoubtedly closely related and are retained as a unit by some systematists such as Thorne (See Zomlefer 1994). It is perhaps easiest for the student to interpret them as one family. If the families are separated, our Nyssa move to the Nyssaceae (3 genera and 8 species) and Cornus remains in the Cornaceae (12 genera and 90 species). The other TX genus, Garrya, can be put into its own family, the Garryaceae (1 genus, 13 species.)

Some taxa are cultivated ornamentals, some are timber sources, and some have edible fruit (Mabberley, 1987).

1. Plants shrubs or small trees; leaves opposite; perianth 4-merous ........................1. Cornus

1. Plants large trees; leaves alternate; perianth 5-merous ...........................................2. Nyssa

Ours shrubs or small trees (other taxa sometimes perennial herbs). Leaves opposite, petiolate, estipulate, entire, lateral veins curved upwards, nearly parallel. Inflorescence an open cyme or a head-like cluster subtended by 4 showy bracts. Flowers small, regular, perfect. Calyx of 4 minute teeth. Petals and stamens 4, inserted on the margin of an epigynous disk; ovary inferior, bicarpellate and with (1)2 locules, style 1, stigma flattened or capitate. Fruit drupe-like, with a (1-)2-seeded stone.

About 45 species of the N. temperate region, rare in S. Amer. and Afr.; 3 in TX; 2 here.

C. florida is the most common cultivated dogwood, prized for its showy flowers, but other species are cultivated for flowers and colorful fruit, including C. kousa and C. mas. Others have brightly colored winter twigs. The wood of some species has been used for tools, cabinet work, and other small objects. The fruits of some are edible (Mabberley 1987) or provide food for wildlife, including game birds, while deer browse the twigs and leaves (Elias 1980).

A field test for dogwood identification involves tearing a leaf gently in half across its width. The two halves of a dogwood leaf usually remain attached by cobwebby threads of vascular tissue.

1. Flowers in a head or contracted cyme, subtended by 4 showy white or pinkish bracts; fruit red or orange-ish at maturity .................................................................................1. C. florida

1. Flowers in an open cyme, bracts none; fruits white at maturity .................2. C. drummondii

1. C. florida L. Flowering Dogwood. Large shrub or small tree to 12 m tall, often multi-trunked, trunks to 5 dm in diameter and crown to 11 m broad (commonly smaller); bark reddish brown to black on older trees, breaking up into a checkerboard pattern; young branchlets greenish; terminal buds white. Petioles usually 3 to 12 mm long; blades 6 to 12(15) cm long, 3 to 8 cm broad, ovate to broadly elliptic, acute to acuminate, rounded or tapered basally, dark green and glabrous to pubescent above, paler and strigillose to glabrous beneath, lateral veins 4 to 6 pairs, evenly spaced. Inflorescence a compact cyme of 12 to 25 small, greenish-white or yellowish-green, strigose flowers, subtended by a cross of 4 bracts; bracts large, obovate, petaloid, 2 to 5 cm long, 1.5 to 3 cm broad, white to light pink, often unequal, with many lateral veins curving toward the pointed or notched and slightly brownish apex, eventually deciduous. Calyx narrowly funnelform, lobes 4, 0.5 to 1 mm long, erect and persistent; petals 4, 3 to 5 mm long, narrowly lanceolate, valvate, spreading; stamens 4, exserted, inserted on the margin of the epigynous disk; style 3 to 4 mm long, from the center of the disk, stigma only slightly broader than the style. Fruit red to yellow, 1 to 1.5 cm long, 4 to 7 mm in diameter, ellipsoid, with 2 seeds in the stone. Usually in the understory of acid woods, on slopes, or in ravines. E. and Cen. TX; E. 1/2 U.S. and S. Can., S. to FL and TX; also Mex. Mar.-Apr. Fall color scarlet. [Cynoxylon floridum (L.) Raf.].

This plant is one of our most striking native flowering trees. It is commonly planted and some strains have been developed with decidedly pink bracts or variegated leaves. Plants along the E. seaboard of the U.S. have fallen prey to an anthracnose disease not yet a serious problem in TX. Songbirds and squirrels eat the fruits, though they are supposedly poisonous to humans. The wood is close-grained and hard, useful for tool handles and other small objects (Elias 1980).

2. C. drummondii C. A. Mey. Roughleaf Dogwood. Shrub or small tree 2 to 6(12) m tall, sometimes forming clumps from root sprouts; crown irregular, open; bark dark reddish- to gray-brown, shallowly fissured; young branchlets olive-brown or reddish, scabrous, becoming light brown or gray; pith brown, markedly darker than the surrounding wood. Petioles to 15 mm long; blades ovate lance-ovate or elliptic-lanceolate, 6 to 11 cm long, 2 to 8.5 cm broad, usually abruptly acuminate, base cuneate to truncate, scabrous above, the hairs curly or Y-shaped, short-woolly-pilose beneath, rather whitish and with spreading hairs, lateral veins 3 to 5 pairs. Inflorescence on new growth, a rounded or flat-topped cyme to ca. 7.5 cm broad, usually with ca. 4 main branches, pubescent; pedicels 2 to 7 mm long, pubescent with appressed, T-shaped hairs; flowers white or cream, scented (some say unpleasantly so), appressed-pubescent. Sepals 4, united below, the free portions 0.5 to 1(2) mm long; corolla cylindric in bud, petals 4, lanceolate, spreading to revolute, 2.5 to 4(5.5) mm long; stamens 4, 2.5 to 6.5 mm long; ovary (1-)2-locular, style 2.5 to 3.5 mm long, stigma capitate. Fruit drupe-like, white or rarely pale blue, subglobose, 4 to 7 mm in diameter; stone globose, 3 to 5 mm in diameter, 1-seeded. Damp woods, dry hillsides, sometimes in wetter places. E. 1/2 TX; E. VA, S. IN, and SE. MO, S. to FL and TX. Apr.-June, ours mostly Apr. Fall color reddish. [C. asperifolia of some authors, including Michx.; Svida asperifolia (Michx.) Small].

Whitetail deer browse the foliage; songbirds, gamebirds, and small mammals eat the fruits (Elias 1980).

Trees or shrubs with alternate, simple, deciduous, entire or rarely slightly-toothed leaves commonly crowded at the ends of the branchlets. Flowers perfect or unisexual. Staminate flowers many in crowded clusters, calyx small, 5-parted; petals small and fleshy, soon falling or else entirely absent; stamens 5 to 12, inserted on the outer rim of the staminal disk. Pistillate flowers single or in small, sessile, bracted clusters of up to 8; style 1, elongate, ovary 1-celled. Fruit a 1-seeded drupe.

5 species of N. Amer., China, and Indomalaysia; 2 in TX; 1 here. Placed by some in the family Nyssaceae.

Some species are used for timber or are cultivated for ornamental fall color (Mabberley 1987).

1. N. sylvatica Marsh Medium to large tree to 30(40) m tall, branches spreading horizontally or drooping; bark light brown, with age deeply furrowed and with scaly vertical ridges; young branchlets reddish-brown, sparsely pubescent, becoming glabrous. Leaves alternate, often crowded at the tips of the branchlets, petioles to 2 cm long; blades to 14 cm long and 7 cm broad, obovate to broadly elliptic or linear to oblanceolate, ca. 2 to 3 times longer than wide, apically rounded to abruptly acuminate or acute, rounded to tapered basally, margins entire or sometimes wavy, rarely with any teeth, glabrous (or nearly so) and lustrous above, glabrate to glabrous below. Staminate flowers pedicellate, in an umbellate or compact raceme. Pistillate flowers 2 or more in pubescent, peduncled clusters. Fruits usually in 2's or 3's, ellipsoid, dark blue, 1 to 1.5 m long, flesh bitter to acid; stone hard, sometimes ribbed. Moist uplands or more usually in bottomland woods and in and around bogs. E. TX; ME to FL, W. to MI, IL, SE. MO, E. OK, and TX. Mar.-May. Fall color red to maroon.

Two varieties have been described for TX, both probably present. Our plants however, seem to be nearly all of the first variety. Kartesz (1998) recognizes the second as a distinct species .

var. sylvatica Black Gum, Sour-gum, Pepperidge. Leaves obovate to broadly elliptic, ca. twice as long as wide, to 14 cm long, abruptly acuminate to rounded apically, usually thin-textured; young petioles densely long-pilose; fruiting peduncles usually longer than 3 cm; flesh of fruit more or less acid. Typically in upland woods and stream bottoms, on light-textured soils. ME to NY and S. Ont., S. to FL and TX; disjunctly in Mex. Apr-May. [Includes var. dilatata Fern. and var. caroliniana (Poir.) Fern.].

var. biflora (Walt.) Sarg. Black Gum, Swamp Tupelo. Trunk base swollen when in standing water; leaves mostly linear to oblanceolate, usually 3 times longer than broad, usually leathery, rounded to acute apically, to 12 cm long, rarely to 4 cm broad; fruiting peduncles usually less than 3 cm long; fruit bitter. In seasonally flooded swamps, in low wet woods, and on stream banks. E. TX; DE and MD, S. to FL and TX. Mar.-Apr. [N. biflora Walt.].

Herbaceous or shrubby aerial parasites. Stems evergreen, usually branched, brittle, the nodes usually swollen and articulated. Leaves opposite, simple, entire, evergreen or some (not ours) reduced to scales. Herbage pubescent or glabrous. Plants monoecious or dioecious, flowers small, less than 2 mm long, clustered at the nodes or in spikes or cymes. Calyx segments 2 to 4, valvate, Corolla none. Staminate flowers with stamens as many as the sepals and opposite them, fused to them or free. Pistillate flowers with ovary inferior, of 3 to 4 united carpels, unilocular, style 1, stigma terminal. Ovules none, the 2 embryo sacs originating from short placental columns. Fruit a berry with 1(2) testa-less seeds, viscid tissue, and persistent sepals.

8 genera and 450 species more or less worldwide, mostly in the tropics and subtropics; 2 genera and 10 species in TX; 1 species here.

The plants can be serious parasites, especially in plantation trees. Viscum (Old World) and Phoradendron (New World) are the genera commonly used as Christmas decorations (Mabberley 1987).

Parasitic shrubs, leaves and sometimes stems green and photosynthetic. Leaves evergreen, opposite, well-developed (as in ours) or in some reduced to scales. Plants dioecious, flowers ca. 2 mm long, in cylindrical, spike-like, axillary inflorescences with the flowers sunken into the rachis, 1 at the apex an the others 3-ranked. Staminate inflorescence usually with 5 to 60 flowers. Pistillate inflorescence with 4 to 11 flowers. Calyx segments usually (2)3(4), free, deltoid, scale-like, persistent, seldom erect and never spreading, commonly incurved. Staminate flower with 1 sessile 2-celled anther at the base of each sepal. Pistillate flower with an inferior ovary below the persistent sepals, unilocular. Fruit small, drupe-like, mesocarp mucilaginous, usually whitish.

190 species in America, especially in the tropics; 7 in TX; 1 here. This treatment follows Wiens (1964). The author of this article communicated to the editors of The Flora of the Great Plains that he felt this to be a better treatment of the P. tomentosum-P. serotinum complex than the treatment presented by Correll and Johnston (1970); see GPFA (1986).

P. serotinum is the species most commonly sold as a floral decoration (Mabberley, 1987). The leaves and stems are toxic and the berries may be poisonous if eaten in large quantities. It is the berries that are responsible for the few reported fatal cases. Symptoms of poisoning are usually those of severe gastroenteritis (Lampe 1985).

1. P. tomentosum (DC.) Engelm. ex Gray Mistletoe, Injerto. Shrubs to 1 m or more in diameter, yellow-green, moderately to densely stellate-pubescent on younger parts, older parts more lightly so. Leaf blades elliptic-obovate to orbicular, 16 to 28(40) mm long, 9 to 22 mm broad, moderately to densely pubescent, obtuse to rounded apically, basally rounded to attenuate, leathery, veins prominent to obscure; petiole 2 to 4 mm long or obsolete, commonly more densely pubescent than the blade. Staminate inflorescence with 2 to 6 segments, each with 15 to 42 flowers. Pistillate inflorescence with 2 to 6 segments, each with 6 to 11 flowers. Fruit whitish, 4 to 6 mm in diameter, glabrous or nearly so. Flowering Dec.-Mar. Parasitic primarily on Prosopis (Mesquite) or other legumes, Celtis, Ulmus, and sometimes Quercus. S., Cen., and W. TX. [Includes var. tomentosum, as the former var. macrophyllum (Engelm.) Wiens is now accorded separate specific status (e.g. see Hatch, et al. 1990); P. flavescens of authors and var. tomentosum (DC.) Engelm. in Brewer and Watson; P. serotinum (Raf.) M. C. Johnst. var. pubescens (Engelm.) M. C. Johnst.].

Tull (1987) reported that pale tan, yellow, and green dyes can be made from this plant.

Texas material woody vines, shrubs, or small trees. Leaves simple, alternate or opposite, petiolate; stipules absent or minute and deciduous. Inflorescences axillary cymes or terminal racemes or panicles. Flowers perfect or rarely unisexual, 4- or 5-merous, regular; pedicels jointed. Sepals in ours united basally. Petals free, usually imbricate. Stamens 4 to 10, inserted on the margin of a disk that occupies nearly the whole of the bottom of the calyx and sometimes obscures the ovary. Ovary on or partly surrounded by the disk, of 1 to 5 united carpels with as many locules, free of the calyx; style 1, ovules (1)2 to 10. Fruit a capsule (as in ours) or a berry, the seeds often enclosed by a fleshy aril.

94 genera and 1,300 species chiefly of the tropics, somewhat fewer in temperate regions; 6 genera and 8 species in TX (with the removal of Forsellesia to Glossopetalon in the Crossomataceae); 1 species here.

The family is important chiefly for cultivated ornamentals in Euonymus and medicinal members of Maytenus (Mabberley 1987).

Shrubs or small trees; branchlets green, 4-sided. Leaves opposite, serrulate. Flowers perfect, small, in open axillary pedunculate cymes or solitary. Sepals basally united into a short, flat cup. Petals apically rounded, spreading. Staminal disk flat, 4- or 5-angled, adherent to the calyx and more or less adhering to and concealing the ovary; style short or obsolete. Fruit a loculicidal capsule with 3 to 5 lobes and as many valves. Seeds 1 to 4 per locule, each with a red aril.

177 species of the N. temperate zone, especially Aust.; 2 in TX; 1 here.

Some species are useful for wood, dye properties, etc. The species that Americans are familiar with are generally cultivated plants with colorful fruit and/or fall color (Mabberley 1987). Some species, including ours, have toxic or cathartic properties, though serious poisonings are known only from the fruit of E. europaeus (Lampe 1985).

1. E. atropurpureus Jacq. (Eastern) Wahoo, Burning-bush. Shrub or small tree, erect, 2 to 4(8) m tall; bark gray; branchlets greenish. Petioles 1 to 2 cm long; blades oblong-oval to elliptic, lance-ovate, or lanceolate, 5 to 13 cm long, acute to acuminate or attenuate, basally acute, finely serrulate, the upper surface glabrous, lower surface persistently finely pubescent or glabrous; stipules linear, to 1 mm long, quickly deciduous. Cymes pedunculate, axillary, 7- to 15-flowered; flowers dark red to purplish or tinged with green, 4-merous, generally 6 to 8 mm broad. Calyx lobes 1 to 1.5 mm long, often unequal; petals 3.3 to 3.8 mm long, 3.5 mm broad; disk 4-lobed; stamens nearly sessile; ovary generally 4-lobed unless with fewer lobes through abortion; style obsolete; ovules 2 per cell. Capsule usually deeply 4-lobed, smooth, red or yellowish-red, ca. 1.5 cm broad, dehiscing to show the red-arillate seeds; seeds brown or yellowish-brown, 6 to 7(8.5) mm long, 4 to 5 mm in diameter, smooth. Moist rich woods, bluffs, ravines, thickets, etc. Primarily in N. Cen. TX, in our area known at least from Old River Ranch in Burleson Co.; Ont. to MT, S. to NC, TN, AL, AR, OK, and TX, apparently excluding SC and LA. Apr.-July.

Two varieties in TX:

var. atropurpureus Blades ovate-elliptic, acute to abruptly short-acuminate, persistently pubescent below, especially on the veins. This appears to be the variety represented by our Burleson Co. material.

var. cheatumii Lundell Blades lanceolate, apex long-attenuate, both surfaces entirely glabrous.

The bark and fruit are cathartic and may be emetic, though the bark was once used medicinally (Lampe 1985).

Shrubs or trees, deciduous or usually evergreen. Leaves alternate, simple, petiolate, usually stipulate, margins entire to toothed or spiny. Plants usually polygamo-dioecious (mostly dioecious and with a few perfect flowers). Flowers regular, hypogynous, 4-(to 8-)merous, sessile or pedicellate, in axillary fasciculate, cymose, or racemose arrangements or sometimes solitary. Calyx small, sepals united, free of ovary, persistent, the lobes imbricate. Corolla white or tinged with green, deciduous, the petals free or basally united, imbricate. Stamens usually as many as and alternate with the petals and sometimes adnate to the corolla, all fertile in staminate flowers, anthers introrse; staminodia present in the pistillate flowers, about as large as the fertile stamens. Ovary sessile, superior, with 2 to 6(rarely more) united carpels and as many locules, style short or obsolete, ovules 1(2) per locule; ovary in male flowers rudimentary, sterile. Fruit drupe-like, with as many stones as carpels. Stones smooth to ribbed or striate, usually with 1 suspended seed, seed coat thin, endosperm abundant.

4 genera and 420 species nearly worldwide; 1 genus and 11 species in TX; 4 species known from our area.

The family is important in the U.S. primarily for cultivated ornamental shrubs and trees, but it also includes some taxa valued for their wood (Mabberley 1987).

Characters as described for the family, more precisely as follows: Stipules minute, deciduous. Plants generally fully dioecious or with a few occasional perfect flowers. Flowers axillary, in cymes, fascicles, or solitary, usually pedicellate. Calyx 4- to 9-parted. Corolla rotate, petals 4 to 9, elliptic to oblong, free or basally united. Stamens as many as the petals and alternate with them, epipetalous. Ovary subcylindrical, usually with 2 to 8 cells, style usually none, stigmas as many as the cells, separate or confluent. Fruit topped with the persistent stigma(s), usually with 4 to 8 1-seeded stones.

About 400 species worldwide, especially tropical and temperate Amer. and Asia; 11 in TX; 4 here. A useful reference for descriptions and county records is the work of Lundell (1943).

Many are cultivated for ornament, both deciduous and evergreen, and with some cultivars bred for showy fruit. I. aquifolium is the traditional English holly used as a Christmas decoration; in America this usually replaced by I. opaca. The wood of many is white and can be used in inlay, for musical instruments, etc. The leaves of some, for example I. cassine and I. paraguariensis, are high in caffeine and have been used in teas (Mabberley 1987). The fruits of some are regarded as toxic, causing vomiting and diarrhea if eaten (Lampe 1985).

1. Leaves thin-textured, deciduous; inflorescences sessile, all the flowers solitary or

fasciculate; pedicels lacking bractlets .....................................................................................2

1. Leaves coriaceous, evergreen; inflorescences pedunculate, the flowers in cymes or solitary; pedicels with bractlets at the base ..............................................................................3

2(1) Blades mostly spatulate to obovate, basally attenuate, apically rounded or commonly emarginate; margins more or less crenate; fruiting pedicels 4 to 6 mm long ...1. I. decidua

2. Blades usually obovate-elliptic, basally cuneate, apically acute to acuminate; margin more or less serrate; fruiting pedicels 6 to 12 mm long ..............................................2. I. longipes

var. hirsuta

3(1) Blades usually more than 4 cm long; margin spinose-dentate; apex spine-tipped .................

..................................................................................................................................3. I. opaca

3. Blades usually less than 4 cm long; margin crenate or crenate-serrate; apex obtuse, often emarginate .........................................................................................................4. I. vomitoria

1. I. decidua Walt. Deciduous Holly, Deciduous Yaupon, Possum-haw, Winterberry, Bear-berry. Shrub or small tree to a maximum of 10 m, crown open and spreading; bark light brown to gray; branchlets gray or silvery, glabrous or rarely puberulent, the lateral ones often short and spur-like. Leaves deciduous, membranous, stiffer with age, usually in fascicles at the ends of the lateral branchlets; petioles grooved, 0.5 to 1.5 cm long, densely puberulent above with curved hairs, glabrous below, blades broadest at or above the middle, oblanceolate to spatulate, oblong, obovate, broadly obovate, or sometimes elliptic, to 8 cm long and 4.5 cm broad, usually about 1/2 that, apex obtuse to rounded or obtusely subacuminate, basally acuminate to attenuate, margin obscurely or remotely crenulate-serrulate, the teeth incurved and gland-tipped, upper surface glabrous, lower surface paler, pubescent at least on veins. Flowers in fascicles of about 5 to 12 at the ends of spur-like shoots of the previous season, rarely single on current year's growth, appearing as the leaves unfold; pedicels glabrous, without bracts, those of the male flowers to 12 mm long, those of the female flowers to 6 mm long. Perianth 4- or 5-merous; calyx lobes triangular, ca. 1 mm long, equalling or longer than the tube, acute, entire, in the male flowers sometimes denticulate and in the female ciliolate; petals white, basally united, elliptic to oblong-elliptic, 3 to 4 mm long; stamens of male flowers slightly shorter than the petals, staminodia of female flowers ca. 3/4 as long as petals; ovary of pistillate flowers obovoid, ca. 1.5 mm long, commonly 4-celled, with 1 large, capitate, sessile stigma. Fruit globose to depressed-globose, bright red or red-orange, to 7.5 mm in diameter, persistent until the next season's leaves appear; stones usually 4, irregularly ribbed, to 5 mm long. Woods, often near streams, in swamps and ravines, conspicuous in fruit along fencerows and roadsides. E. and Cen. TX; MD, S. IN, S. IL, MO, and SE. KS., S. to FL and TX, absent from the immediate coastal plain and much of Appalachia. Mar.-May. [Includes var. curtissii Fern; I. curtissii (Fern.) Small].

The fruits are eaten by songbirds and gamebirds, while deer browse the young growth (Elias 1980).

2. I. longipes Chapm. ex Trel. var. hirsuta Lundell Georgia Holly, Chapman's Holly. Shrub or small tree to 3 m tall; twigs gray, puberulent or glabrous, often short and spur-like. Leaves deciduous, clustered in fascicles; petioles slim, puberulent above, hirsute or only sparsely so beneath, 2 to 6 mm long; blades membranous or becoming stiffer with age, elliptic to oblanceolate, ovate-elliptic, or oblanceolate-elliptic, 1.5 to 5 cm long, 0.7 to 2.3 cm broad, broadest at or above the middle, apex acute to obtuse, sometimes abruptly acuminate, usually mucronulate, basally acute, margin crenulate-serrulate, serrulate, or nearly entire, the teeth minutely mucronate, conspicuously ciliate, upper surface hirtellous on the impressed midvein, lower surface hirsute, densely so on the prominent midvein. Inflorescences sessile, axillary, staminate flowers in fascicles and the pistillate solitary; peduncles slender, glabrous, the staminate to 1.6 cm long and the pistillate 6 to 12 cm long; flowers 4-merous. Staminate flowers: calyx more or less cup-shaped, ca. 2 mm broad, the lobes triangular, acute, denticulate; corolla rotate, the petals united basally, elliptic, to 3 mm long; stamens about as long as the petals. Pistillate flowers: calyx slightly larger, corolla rotate, petals elliptic; staminodia 2/3 as long as the petals; fertile ovary ovoid, to 2.5 mm long, 4-celled, stigma capitate (description of female flower based on description for the species as female flowers were not described in the original varietal diagnosis). Fruit globose, to 8 mm in diameter, usually red, with 4 inconspicuously striate-sulcate stones to 5.5 mm long. In woods, usually on sandy or sandy loam soils, uncommon in our area but known from Madison Co. eastward. SE. TX. Mar.-Apr.

Our plants differ from the typical variety in having shorter pedicels, denser pubescence, and smaller leaves. The species as a whole from TX and FL N. to TN and NC.

3. I. opaca Ait. American Holly. Usually small tree to 16 m, slow growing and long lived, crown pyramidal if unobstructed; bark light gray, slightly warty; branchlets stout, subterete or striate-grooved, at first finely puberulent, becoming glabrate. Leaves evergreen; petioles usually 5 to 12 (18) mm long, puberulent, channeled; blades stiff and coriaceous, elliptic to obovate, to 12 cm long and 6 cm broad, apex acute to nearly acuminate, spiny, base obtuse to rounded (sometimes acute to subcuneate), margin with a few spiny teeth or sometimes entire, upper surface dark green and puberulent along the midvein and at the base at first, lower surface paler and often sparsely short-hirtellous. Inflorescences scattered or fasciculate in the axils; staminate cymes puberulent, with 3 to 12 flowers, to 25 mm long, pedicels to 1 cm long, without bractlets; pistillate clusters usually with 1 to 3 flowers, peduncles 2 to 10 mm long and with 2 bractlets near the middle; flowers 4-merous. Calyx lobes ovate-triangular, 1 to 1.5 mm long, acute to acuminate, puberulent or glabrous, ciliate; petals white or pale yellowish, united basally, commonly elliptic, to 4 mm long and 3 mm broad, sometimes sparsely ciliolate; stamens as long as or longer than the petals, staminodia shorter than the petals; fertile ovary conic-ovoid, ca. 2.5 mm long, 4-celled, stigma capitate. Fruit globose to ellipsoid, bright red or orange (rarely yellow), to 12 mm in diameter; stones 4, irregularly grooved, to 8 mm long. Moist woods, often of bottomlands, hammocks, streambanks, swamps, etc. E. and S. Cen. TX; MA to FL, W. to WI, MO, OK, TX. Apr.-June.

Sometimes grown for ornament and the foliage and fruit used for Christmas decorations. The wood, though white, turns brown with age and the trees are too small to be of use for large objects. Songbirds and gamebirds eat the fruit (Elias 1980).

4. I. vomitoria Ait. Yaupon, Cassine. Shrub or small tree to 8 m, sometimes spreading from root sprouts, crown round and spreading; bark light, usually grayish or brown; branchlets stout, puberulent, becoming glabrous, obtusely angled. Leaves evergreen; petioles 1 to 3(6) mm long, puberulent; blades coriaceous, elliptic to oblong, oblong-elliptic, ovate-elliptic, or even obovate-elliptic, broadest near or below the middle, to 5.5 cm long and 2.8 cm broad, often about 1/2 that large, margin crenulate to crenate or crenate-serrate, the teeth minutely mucronate, slightly revolute, apex obtuse and usually minutely emarginate or mucronulate, base rounded to obtuse or rarely acutish, upper surface dark green, puberulent on the midvein and on the base when young, lower surface paler and glabrous except perhaps for the very base. Inflorescences clustered in the axils, the staminate usually with 3 flowers, short-peduncled, usually puberulent; pistillate flowers puberulent, usually solitary or few in sessile clusters; pedicels 1.3 to 3.8 mm long, glabrous in staminate flowers, puberulent in female flowers. Flowers 4-merous; calyx lobes broadly ovate to rounded, ca. 0.5 mm long, glabrous; petals white, basally united, elliptic to oblong-elliptic, 2 to 3 mm long, to 2 mm broad; fertile stamens equalling the petals, staminodia shorter than the petals; fertile ovary conic-ovoid, 1.5 to 2 mm long, stigma capitate. Fruit globose, bright red, to 6.5(8) mm in diameter, topped with the persistent stigma; stones 4, striate, to 4 mm long. Exceedingly common in woods, fencerows, roadsides, hammocks; one of the first species to colonize cleared areas. SE. and Cen. TX; VA to FL, W. to AR, TX. Apr.-May.

The author has seen colonies of Atta carpenter ants carrying away the fruits. Songbirds and some gamebirds eat the fruit. The wood is white and hard but not very useful as the trees are small (Elias 1980). Sometimes cultivated as a shrub in local landscapes, with weeping, yellow-fruited, and dwarf forms available (Bailey, et al. 1976). The latter take well to shearing. The leaves are high in caffeine and were used in a ceremonial tea-like drink by Native Americans. The specific epithet "vomitoria" refers to the belief (probably erroneous) that the plant was used in purging ceremonies. The leaves, however, are not toxic (Tull 1987), though the berries are (Lampe 1985). Tan and gray dyes can be made from the leaves and yellows from the berries (Tull 1987).

EUPHORBIACEAE

Herbs, shrubs, or trees, some (not ours) true vines or stem succulents, very diverse in overall morphology. Leaves alternate, opposite, or whorled, simple to pinnately or palmately lobed or compound, commonly stipulate, but stipules often small, caducous, or represented by glands or membranes. Herbage glabrous to pubescent with various sorts of hairs or scales, sometimes stinging, some genera with milky or colored latex. Inflorescence quite variable, but flowers always unisexual, plants monoecious or dioecious. Non-Euphorbia type flowers: variously arranged, regular, perianth reduced to showy, of 1 or 2 whorls, the whorls similar or different. Nectary disk often present, at least in pistillate flowers. Stamens (1-)5 to many, free or variously connate. Gynoecium typically of 3 united carpels (occasionally 2 or 4 to many), typically 3-celled (except in, e.g., some Croton); styles 3 and distinct or united below and branched above, each branch often further divided, ovules 1 to 2 per locule, apical-axile, pendulous. Euphorbia-type flowers: very reduced, borne in cyathia which resemble single flowers, each cyathium cup-shaped, with one pedicellate female flower consisting only of a tricarpellate gynoecium as described above; staminate flowers represented by single pedicellate stamens, sometimes subtended by rudimentary bracts, rim of cyathium with nectary glands, each often with a petaloid appendage. Fruit usually a capsule or schizocarp (achene or utricle in some Croton), the dorsal carpel walls separating from the central axis or columella; seeds often with a caruncle or outgrowth around the micropyle.

Mabberley (1987) lists 321 genera and 7,950 species of cosmopolitan distribution (except the Arctic); in TX 20 genera and 137 species; 9 genera and 43 species locally.

The family is important for several crops. Natural rubber is obtained from the sap of Hevea brasiliensis trees. Manihot esculenta is the source of the staple foods manihot, cassava, and tapioca. Ricinus communis is the source of castor oil--and one of the most deadly poisons, ricin. Other genera supply medicinal or industrial oils, dyes, timber, or fruit. Many species are poisonous or have irritating latex. There are many ornamentals in the family, including species of Croton, Acalypha, Euphorbia, Codiaeum, and others (Mabberley 1987).

1. Plants trees ...............................................................................................................1. Sapium

1. Plants herbs (some of them may be rather coarse) ...............................................................2

2(1) Leaves palmately lobed; plants with stinging hairs ........................................2. Cnidoscolus

2. Leaves not palmately lobed; plants with or without stinging hairs ..........................................3

3(2) Calyx absent; flowers borne inside a cup-shaped structure (cyathium) which may

resemble a single flower; sap milky ....................................................................3. Euphorbia

3. Calyx present; flowers borne otherwise; sap milky or clear ....................................................4

4(3) Sap milky; leaves with glandular-serrate margins ................................................4. Stillingia

4. Sap not milky; leaf margins not glandular-serrate (if serrate, not glandular) .........................5

5(4) Flowers solitary or in cymules of 2 to 3 in the axils of the leaves; plants glabrous ..................

...........................................................................................................................5. Phyllanthus

5. Flowers borne otherwise: in clusters, spikes, racemes, etc.; if flowers as few as 1 to 3 per inflorescence, then not all axillary; plants glabrous or pubescent .........................................6

6(5) Leaves with stellate hairs or peltate scales (use lens) .............................................6. Croton

6. Leaves with only simple or branched hairs, OR plants glabrous ...........................................7

7(6) Pistillate flowers subtended by conspicuous, usually serrate or laciniate foliaceous bracts ...

...............................................................................................................................7. Acalypha

7. Flowers not subtended by conspicuous bracts; bracts, if present, small and not resembling leaves ........................................................................................................................................9

8(7) Inflorescences in the axils of the leaves; leaves with three prominent nerves from the base, without stinging hairs .............................................................................8. Argythamnia

8. Inflorescences opposite the upper leaves at the nodes; venation various, but leaves not manifestly triple-nerved, with stinging hairs ...............................................................9. Tragia

NOTES: Caperonia palustris (L.) St. Hil. is a weed in rice fields of SE. TX. The author has seen one very old specimen from Brazos Co. It is an herb with lanceolate to lance-elliptic leaves with serrate margins and closely-spaced parallel secondary veins. Spikes androgynous, in the upper axils; flowers with calyx and corolla. Ovary tricarpellate, densely glandular-setose. Probably not a persistent member of our flora. Occasional waifs or escapes of Ricinus communis L. may be found in our area. It is a tall herb with palmately lobed leaves and bristly-prickly capsules.

About 125 species of tropical and warm regions; 1 species escaping cultivation and naturalized in Texas.

1. S. sebiferum (L.) Roxb. (= Triadica sebifera (L.) Small ) Chinese Tallow Tree. Fast-growing medium-sized tree to 15 m; trunk often crooked, branches spreading or drooping; bark smooth and reddish on younger wood, grayish-brown and widely-fissured on older trunks; wood brittle; sap milky. Leaves alternate, resembling those of Populus, blades rhombic to rhombic-ovate, widest at or below the middle, 3 to 8(9) cm long, apically acuminate to denticulate, basally rounded to acute or sometimes nearly truncate, with 2 small gland at the base of the blade, margin entire but slightly undulate; petioles longer than blades, slender; stipules subulate, caducous. Flowers in terminal thyrses (3)5 to 15 cm long, the bractlet of each node with 2 persistent, bulbous-glandular bractlets. Staminate flowers in clusters in the upper portion of the inflorescence, pedicel ca. 1 mm long; calyx ca. 1 mm broad, cup-shaped and irregularly 3-toothed; stamens 2; corolla, glands, and rudimentary ovary absent. Pistillate flowers few and solitary at the lower nodes of the inflorescence, sepals 3, triangular, nearly distinct; corolla, glands, and nectary disk absent; gynoecium 3-celled, subglobose, styles 3, free and spreading for about half their length, entire, the free portion brown and ventrally papillate. Fruit a 3-lobed capsule 1.2 to 1.8 cm long, dark brown, the outer walls readily falling; seeds 3, 7 to 8 mm long, more or less ellipsoid with one flat side, waxy white, long-persistent on the columella. Native to China and Japan; introduced as a shade tree and now escaping and persisting on the coastal plain from SC to TX; completely naturalized in some places. Common near houses, in vacant lots, old homesites, and so on, especially near water--along streams, around ponds, in moist thickets, etc. Flowering about May or June. Fall color ranging from yellow to orange, red, and maroon--sometimes all on one tree. Long treated in Sapium, now treated by some in Triadica.

The waxy covering of the seeds can be made into candles or used in soap, and a drying oil can be pressed from the seeds (Tull 1987; Mabberley 1987). The sap, leaves, and fruit wall are poisonous and the sap can cause dermatitis; the seeds should also be considered potentially toxic. Yellow-green dye can be made from the leaves (Tull 1987). This tree provides outstanding fall color in our area and is especially impressive when the white seeds persist against dark red foliage. However, the trees are very weak-wooded and susceptible to rot, making them short-lived in the landscape and prone to drop branches or split. The seeds can also be messy. These traits, combined with a general weediness, put this plant near the top of many people's list of "trash trees".

About 50 to 75 species of tropical America, rarer northward; 1 species in Texas.

1. C. texanus (Muell.- Arg.) Small Bull Nettle, Mala Mujer. Perennial herb from a stout root to 1 m long and 20 cm thick; stems several from the base, branched below or above ground, 3 to 5(10) dm tall, plant to 1 m broad; sap milky; herbage covered with white-based stinging hairs. Leaves alternate, orbicular in overall outline, deeply palmately 3- or 5-lobed and veined, lobes entire and ovate or acuminate to angled, sinuate-dentate, or shallowly lobed; petiole from longer than to shorter than the blade, with inconspicuous brownish-white glands 2 to 3 mm broad at the junction of the petiole and upper surface of the blade; stipules inconspicuous and commonly deciduous, 3 to 4 mm long, deeply 3- or 4-toothed or in some plants only one tooth developed. Plants monoecious; inflorescence pedunculate, cymose, terminal (sometimes exceeded by lateral axillary branches), well-branched but few-flowered, branches dichotomous toward the ends, determinate, the single truly terminal flower pistillate (or in some cymes apparently absent), ultimate branchlets each bearing a staminate flower subtended by 1 to 3 tiny subulate bracts. Staminate flowers fragrant, buds clavellate, 13 to 19 mm long; perianth of 1 whorl, petaloid, white, showy, with scattered stinging hairs, funnelform-salverform with a tube 15 to 20 mm long, longer than the 5(4) more or less oblong lobes; stamens 10(rarely 9?), included, in 2 whorls, the inner ones connate into a column, the outer free to their villous bases. Pistillate flowers with a single whitish, petaloid perianth whorl, 10 to 17 mm long, 5-lobed to near the base, with scattered stinging hairs; ovary oblong-obovoid, slightly 3-lobed, 3-celled, densely beset with stinging hairs and also hirtellous above; styles 3, briefly connate below, about 3 times dichotomous, ultimate ends slender. Capsule oblong, 15 to 20 mm long, hispid; columella white, persistent, with 3 narrow wings; seeds 3, 14 to 18 mm long, rounded-oblong, apiculate, smooth, brownish-white, caruncle prominent, sagittate, yellowish-white, 3 to 4 mm long. In sandy soils, common where the ground disturbed. Nearly throughout TX; also LA, OK, AR and S. into Mex. Flowering April-Nov.

The sap is toxic and caustic, but the main threat is from the vicious stinging hairs, which are capable of penetrating even denim. Some people also experience an allergic reaction to the sting (Tull 1987). If one can get to them, however, the seeds are edible and reported to be tasty. One wonders who was first curious--or desperate--enough to discover this.

Ours perennial or annual herbs (elsewhere also shrubs and trees), quite variable in habit; plants glabrous to variously pubescent; sap milky and acrid. Leaves alternate or opposite, in our species simple, entire to serrate or serrulate; stipules well-developed to reduced and scale- or gland-like. Flowers in ours all Euphorbia-type: unisexual, borne in cyathia which resemble individual flowers. Glands of cyathia 1 or more, rotund to cupped or horned; petaloid appendages present or absent, usually greenish, white, or pinkish. Staminate flowers variable in number per cyathium, each consisting of 1 pedicellate stamen. Pistillate flowers 1 per cyathium, often long-exserted, commonly nodding in age, consisting of a pedicellate tricarpellate gynoecium; styles 3, usually bifid but sometimes entire. Fruit a 3-celled, 3-seeded schizocarp-like capsule, each of the carpels falling from the persistent central axis (columella) and soon or tardily releasing the single seed. Seeds often carunculate, variously shaped and decorated.

One of the largest genera of flowering plants, with ca. 1,600 species worldwide, especially in warmer areas. Hatch, et al. (1990) listed 63 species for TX; 18 of which can be expected in our area. The genus includes taxa formerly treated in Chamaesyce, Tithymalus, Poinsettia, and others. Some current authors recognize Chamaesyce as a separate, valid genus and synonyms are provide for those who chose to recognize the split. This treatment is based, in part, on still-useful information presented by Norton (1900) and Wheeler (1941).

The genus has many important members. Most familiar is E. pulcherrima, the Poinsettia. Many African species are succulent and/or spiny, resembling cacti, and a number are cultivated as pot plants, including E. obesa and E. tirucalli. E. splendens is the popular Crown of Thorns. The sap of all species is poisonous and may cause allergic skin reactions. Some species with medicinal properties have been used in emetics, purgatives, depilatories, and so on. Some species are weedy, notably E. peplus in Europe and E. nutans, E. hypericifolia, E. marginata, and E. prostrata in our area. A few species have hydrocarbon chemistries of their sap which allow their use in waxes, waterproofings, rubber, etc. E. antisyphilitica, Candelilla, has a white waxy covering which can be refined for use in chewing gum and cosmetics. A very few species (none of ours!) have edible shoots (e.g. E. balsamifera of the E. hemisphere) (Mabberley 1987).

NOTE: Many TX species are rather weedy; several species not currently known from our area may someday be found here. E. glyptosperma, E. stictospora, and E. albomarginata may be keyed and are described in the Manual of Vascular Plants of Texas (Correll & Johnston 1970). E. humistrata may also make its way here. It is very similar to E. maculata, but roots at the lower nodes and has slender styles 0.5 to 0.7 mm long (cf. E. maculata's clavate styles which are 0.3 to 0.4 mm long).

1. Glands of cyathia without appendages; leaves alternate or opposite, blades essentially bilaterally symmetrical (at least on main stem) .......................................................................2

1. Glands of cyathia with petaloid appendages, OR if appendages absent then leaves all opposite and asymmetrical (with oblique bases) ....................................................................7

2(1) Glands deeply cupped, 1 to 3 per cyathium; cyathia clustered at the ends of the stems and branches, not in a 3-to several-rayed, branched inflorescence; leaves alternate or

opposite .....................................................................................................................................3

2. Glands flat or convex, 4 or 5 per cyathium; leaves alternate on main stem, whorled beneath the symmetrical 3-rayed inflorescence (pleiochasium), and opposite at the forks of the inflorescence branches ..................................................................................................4

3(2) Leaves mostly opposite; seeds mostly 2.2 to 2.5 (3.0) mm long ......................1. E. dentata

3. Leaves alternate above the first or second pair of leaves and below the inflorescence; seeds mostly 2.7 to 3.1 mm long ...............................................................2. E. cyathophora

4(2) Margin of glands rotund, entire ................................................................................................5

4. Margin of glands either with a horn at each end or else half-moon shaped with the points and concave side outward ........................................................................................................6

5(4) Ovary and fruit strongly tuberculate at all stages; plants to 50 cm tall .........3. E. spathulata

5. Ovary and fruit not tuberculate; plants usually to 20 cm. tall ...............................4. E. texana

6(4) Seed with a distinct vertical row of pits on each of the 2 ventral faces ...........5. E. tetrapora

6. Seed with small, distinct pits not in vertical rows ..........................................6. E. longicruris

7(1) Robust herbs to 1 m tall, with a single main stem; leaves alternate, the uppermost markedly white-margined .....................................................................................7. E. bicolor

7. Plants various in habit, usually much less than 1 m tall; leaves usually opposite, never white-margined .........................................................................................................................8

8(7) Stipules glandlike or obsolete; leaf blades symmetrical; cyathia borne on the pseudo- dichotomous upper branches ..................................................................................................9

8. Stipules usually well-developed (at least on one side of the stem), OR if stipules poorly developed then the leaf blades asymmetrical (the bases oblique); branching pattern various (subg. Chamaesyce) ..................................................................................................10

9(8) Plants taprooted annual herbs with a single stem from the base; leaves linear, acute ...........

..........................................................................................................................8. E. hexagona

9. Plants perennials, usually with more than one stem from the base; leaves oblong to linear, apically rounded .................................................................................................9. E. corollata

10(8) Stipules at each node united into a glabrous white or pinkish scale on each side of the stem, scale entire to lacerate; plants often rooted at the lower nodes ..........10. E. serpens

10. Stipules otherwise; if seemingly united into a scale, then only on one side of the stem, OR the entire stipule structure deeply lobed or dissected; plants only rarely rooted at the lower nodes .......................................................................................................................................11

11(10) Plants with some hairs on herbage and/or inflorescence .....................................................12

11. Plants essentially glabrous on herbage, inflorescence, and fruit (except perhaps for the stipules and the inside of the cyathium) ................................................................................14

12(11) Ovary and capsule glabrous ..............................................................................15. E. nutans

12. Ovary and capsule not glabrous ............................................................................................13

13(12) Seeds with narrow, sharp or square cut transverse ridges whitened on the tops; capsules crisply villous or strigose .................................................................................11. E. prostrata

13. Seeds with low, rounded transverse ridges not whitened on the tops, or merely granular; capsules strigose .............................................................................................12. E. maculata

14(11) Leaves linear, more than 6 times longer than wide; leaves entire ...............13. E. missurica

14. Leaves not linear; if narrow then serrulate or less than 6 times longer than wide ...............15

15(14) Leaves mostly serrate or serrulate as seen with a lens ........................................................16

15. Leaves entire as seen with a lens ..........................................................................................17

16(15) Capsule ca. 1.3 mm long; columella ca. 1.1 mm long; cyathia densely glomerulate; plants glabrous .....................................................................................................14. E. hypericifolia

16. Capsule 1.9 to 2.3 mm long; columella 1.8 to 2.2 mm long; cyathia not in dense

glomerules; plants glabrous or often minutely pubescent on distal internodes or the leaves pilose underneath ...............................................................................................15. E. nutans

17(15) Seeds smooth and plump, ovoid, not angled; annual ........................................16. E. geyeri

17. Seeds wrinkled or smooth, usually 3- or 4-angled in cross-section; plants perennial ........18

18(17) Stipules parted into filiform segments ...........................................................17. E. cordifolia

18. Stipules linear, usually free or occasionally united into a bifid structure, sometimes lacerate, but not parted .....................................................................................18. E. fendleri

1. E. dentata Michx. Toothed Spurge. Taprooted annual herb; stems 1 to 4(6) dm tall, erect, 1 to 4 mm thick, branches usually many, decussate, ascending, slender, often as tall as the main stem; stems, branches and petioles more or less densely strigose with retrorse hairs, also with scattered, longer, white multicellular hairs. Major leaves usually opposite (rarely alternate), ovate to lanceolate or linear, 1.5 to 6 cm long, basally acuminate to attenuate, apically blunt to acute, dentate to bluntly serrate, sparsely to densely pubescent on both surfaces; petioles 5 to 25 mm long; stipules none or very small and glandlike. Cyathia clustered at the tips of stems and branches, subtended by basally-pale decussate leaves; eduncles 1 to 2 mm long, glabrous. Cyathia greenish, campanulate, 1.5 to 2.2(3) mm long, more or less glabrous, rim laciniately toothed; glands 1 to 3 per cyathium (or the central cyathium of a cluster with up to 5), cupped, short-stalked; appendages absent; staminate flowers 25 to 40 per cyathium; pedicel of pistillate flower exserted, reflexed at maturity; ovary wider than long, plumply 3-lobed; styles 3, 1 to 2 mm long, bifid from 1/2 to nearly their full length, branches slender. Capsule shallowly 3-lobed, 2 to 3 mm long, 4 to 5 mm broad, glabrous to sparsely strigose; columella 2.5 mm long, with 3 narrow wings; seeds brown (usually dark), minutely tuberculate, 2.2 to 2.5(3) mm long, plumply ovoid to subglobose except for the flat ventral surface which bears a yellowish, roughly heart-shaped caruncle ca. 0.6 mm long. Abundant throughout TX on various soils; NY to MN and SD, W. to AZ and S. to Mex. Spring-fall, roughly Apr.-Nov. [Poinsettia dentata (Michx.) Kl. & Gke.].

2. E. cyathophora Murray Painted Euphorbia, Wild Poinsettia, Painted Spurge, Painted-leaf, Fire-on-the-Mountain. Herb, in our area annual, from a vertical yellow taproot 2 to 7 mm thick; stem 2 to 5(10) dm tall, main stem 1 to 5 mm thick, glabrous to sparsely pubescent, usually branched, branches commonly decussate below, alternate on the midstem, and pseudodichotomous in the inflorescence, ascending to erect. Leaves opposite to usually alternate on the main stem, blades variable in shape, even on the same plant, linear-lanceolate to ovate or obovate, the larger ones lobed or often panduriform, 5 to 15 cm long, basally acuminate, apically variable, margin serrate to entire, bright green, thin-textured, usually with scattered hairs on the lower surface, some of the upper leaves often with reddish or yellowish basal splotches; petioles slender, 3 to 14(20) mm long, sparsely pubescent; stipules none or very reduced and glandlike. Cyathia clustered at the tips of the stem and branches, subtended by decussate leaves which are basally red-splotched; peduncles 1.5 to 3 mm long, glabrous, expanded just below the cyathia. Cyathia slenderly urceolate-campanulate, 2 to 3 mm long, toothed; gland usually 1, sessile, deeply cupped to shallowly bilabiate; appendages none; staminate flowers 30 to 50 per cyathium; pedicel of pistillate flower long-exserted, reflexed at maturity; ovary plumply 3-lobed, green smooth; styles 3, ca. 1 to 2 mm long, bifid 1/3 to 1/2 their length. Capsule 3 to 4 mm long, 5 to 6(8) mm broad, roundly 3-lobed; columella ca. 2 mm long, with 3 narrow wings; seed not angled, ovoid to subglobose, 2.5 to 3.1 mm long, basally truncate and apically pointed, dark brown with pale tubercles, caruncle minute. Scattered throughout TX, rarer on the Coastal Plain; VA, IN, WI, MN, and SD, S. to FL, TX, and Oax. May-Sept. [Poinsettia cyathophora (Murr.) Kl. & Gke. The name E. heterophylla L., the name of a different species, has often been misapplied to this species.]

This plant is occasionally cultivated for its rather showy bracts.

3. E. spathulata Lam. Warty Euphorbia. Taprooted annual herb 5 to 50 cm tall; stems 1 to 3(4 to 10) from the base, erect, branches several to many above, alternate, ascending to erect, reaching about the same height as the main stem, branches of the pleiochasium (cymose inflorescence) in a whorl of 3 and repeatedly pseudodichotomously branched above. Leaves of stems and branches alternate, obovate-oblong to spatulate or oblanceolate, 1 to 4.5 cm long, 5 to 10 mm broad, rounded or tapered basally, apically obtuse to emarginate, serrate at least in the distal 1/2, sessile; leaves opposite at the branches of the pleiochasia and in a whorl of 3 beneath each one, shorter and broader than the stem leaves, broadly elliptic to oblong, ovate, or deltoid-ovate, rounded basally and acute apically, generally serrulate near the apex, 3 to 9 mm long; stipules none. Cyathia sessile in the forks of the inflorescence, ca. 1 mm long, narrowly turbinate; glands 4(5) per cyathium, sessile, elliptic, very small, without appendages; staminate flowers 5 to 8(10) per cyathium; pedicel of the pistillate flower not exserted, erect at maturity, ovary and capsule apically warty during all stages of development (observed with most ease in mature specimens); styles 3, ca. 1 mm long, bifid about half their length, erect or spreading, the divisions terete. Capsule 2 to 3 mm long, 3-lobed, with many warts near the apex and on the lobes; seeds reddish or brown, 1.3 to 2 mm long, roundish-ovoid, slightly flattened,with low, sharp, irregular reticulate ridges, caruncle minute, white, roughly heart-shaped. Prairies, roadsides, open woods, waste places, etc. Abundant nearly throughout the state except for the High Plains; MN W. to WA., S. to AL, TX, and Mex. Spring; our collections primarily from Apr. [Includes var. mexicana Engelm; E. obtusata Pursh; E. dictyosperma Fisch. & Mey.; E. arkansana Engelm. & Gray; Galarhoeus arkansanus (Engelm. & Gray) Small; G. missouriensis (Nort.) Rydb.; G. obtusatus (Pursh) Small; synonyms also in Tithymalus].

See NOTE at E. texana, below.

4. E. texana (Millsp. ex Heller) Boiss. Exceedingly similar to E. spathulata above, and distinguished by gynoecia and fruit which are without tubercles at all stages of development. Plants generally only to 20 cm tall. In TX, at least from Fayette to Jasper Cos. [E. spathulata Lam. var. leiococca Engelm; E. leiococca Nort.].

NOTE: According to Mark Mayfield (pers. comm 1995), even when found growing with E. spathulata, there are no intermediate forms.

5. E. tetrapora Engelm. Weak Euphorbia. Taprooted annual; stems 1 to 3 from the base, slender, usually simple below the inflorescence. Cauline leaves alternate, spatulate-cuneate, apex retuse to obcordate, ca. 3 mm long and short-petiolate near the base of the stem and increasing in size upwards, the upper ones ca. 1 cm long and about 1/2 as broad, nearly sessile; leaves at the base of the pleiochasium in a whorl of 3, somewhat broader than the stem leaves, spatulate-obovate; leaves of the inflorescence branches opposite, triangular-ovate, apically mucronate, basally subconnate, truncate or cordate, 3 to 6(10) mm long, 5 to 8(14) mm long, stipules absent or quite reduced and glandlike. Pleiochasium 3-rayed, each ray 1 to 8 cm long, usually several times dichotomous; cyathia solitary in the upper forks, ca. 1 mm long and as broad, the rim with 4 short-ciliate lobes; glands 4, ca. 1 mm long and 0.5 mm broad, short-stipitate, oblong, each end with a slender erect or divergent horn ca. 1 mm long; petaloid appendages none; staminate flowers 10 to 15 per cyathium; pedicel of pistillate flower long-exserted; styles 3, 0.5 to 1 mm long, briefly bifid apically, branches capitellate. Capsule roundly 3-lobed, subglobose, ca. 2.5 mm broad; seeds reddish brown or with a whitish coating, oblong, slightly flattened dorsiventrally, 1.3 to 1.4 mm long, 0.8 to 0.9 mm broad, 0.7 mm thick, the ventral surface (both facets taken together) with (2)4(6) pits arranged in neat vertical rows (rarely these merged into irregular grooves), dorsal surface with ca. 15 to 20 shallow pits or else nearly smooth, caruncle yellow, somewhat flaring, with a central dome-like umbo. Sandy soils of roadsides, etc. Local in E. and N. Cen. TX, rarer W. in the Llano region of the Ed. Plat.; OK, TX, and AR to LA, AL. and GA. Spring, our collections Mar.-Apr. [Tithymalus tetraporus (Engelm.) Small].

6. E. longicruris Scheele Wedge-leaf Euphorbia. Taprooted annual; stem usually 1, unbranched below the inflorescence, 5 to 20(25) cm tall. Cauline leaves alternate, cuneate-spatulate below, passing to obovate upwards, 5 to 15 mm long, 2 to 6 mm broad, entire, apically mucronate, retuse, or obtuse, tapered to the base, only the lowermost petiolate, stipules absent or reduced and gland-like; leaves in a whorl of 3 below the pleiochasium; leaves of the dichotomous inflorescence branches closely spaced, opposite, reniform or suborbicular, 4 to 8 mm long, 7 to 13 mm broad, bases oblique and very slightly connate. Cyathia solitary in the forks of the inflorescence, 1.5 to 2 mm long, 1 to 1.5 mm broad, the lobes of the rim oblong, minutely ciliate; glands 4, crescent-shaped, each end with an erect horn about twice as long as the body of the gland is wide; petaloid appendages none; staminate flowers (5)10 to 15 per cyathium; pistillate flower with 3 styles ca. 0.5 mm long and bifid. Capsule plumply 3-lobed, ovoid-globose, 2.5 mm long, 2.5 to 3 mm broad; seeds oblong, slightly dorsiventrally flattened, ca. 1.5 mm long and 1 mm broad and thick, surface with numerous small pits not arranged anywhere in regular rows, their diameter less than half the width of the spaces between them, seed coat whitish, caruncle smallish, depressed-conical, with a central umbo. Local and infrequent in calcareous soils; Ed. Plat, N. Cen. TX, and E. part of Plains Country; also OK, and N.L. in Mex. Known from our area at least from calcareous sandstone in Grimes Co. Spring, our collection from March. [Tithymalus longicruris (Scheele) Small.]

Our plants represent a rather large eastern disjunct from the normal range (W. of Austin). In Grimes Co., it grows in association with other plants typical of the Edwards Plateau.

7. E. bicolor Engelm. & Gray Snow-on-the-Prairie. Taprooted annual herb; stem simple below the inflorescence, 2 to 5 mm thick, 3 to 10 dm tall, glabrate below and villous above. Stem leaves alternate, sessile, narrowly- oblong,-elliptical, -oblanceolate, or -lanceolate, ca. 2.5 to 5 cm long, to ca. 1.5 cm broad, apically acute to obtuse, apiculate, basally acute to rounded, sometimes appearing nearly clasping, thinly villous on both surfaces, margins entire, only rarely white; stipules absent or reduced and glandlike; leaves at the base of the pleiochasium in a whorl of 3, similar to the stem leaves, but usually relatively narrower and longer, occasionally white-margined; main branches of the inflorescence 3, spreading, dichotomously branched, internodes to several cm. long, leaves of the branches opposite, linear to very narrowly oblanceolate, ca. 5 or more times longer than wide, (2)3 to 6 cm long, (2)3 to 4(5) mm broad, tapered to the base, acute to obtuse, apiculate, usually white-margined or nearly wholly white and with only a narrow median portion green, villous on both surfaces. Peduncles slender, to ca. 15 mm long; cyathia at the nodes of the inflorescence, campanulate-turbinate, to ca. 5 mm long, densely villous, green; glands 5, oblong, ca. 1 mm long, shallowly cupped, yellowish; appendages petaloid, white, more or less reniform to oblong, 2 to 3 mm long and to ca. 4 mm broad, minutely pubescent, apex sometimes with a shallow notch or indentation, margin minutely erose; staminate flowers ca. 35 per cyathium, sometimes some apparently wholly staminate cyathia produced; pistillate pedicel exserted, reflexed in age; ovary densely villous, plumply 3-lobed, styles 3. Capsule green and densely white pubescent or villous, depressed-globose, to ca. 8 mm broad and 6 mm long, columella well-developed; seeds globose-ovoid, to ca. 4.5 mm long, 4 mm broad, pale yellow-tan to light or dark gray, sometimes mottled, smooth or with faint longitudinal ridges and/or some low, irregular tubercles or shorter ridges, caruncle very small or absent (?). Roadsides, prairies, pastures, etc., usually in tight clay soils, not widespread, but abundant where found. SE. TX, on the Coastal Plain, rare in E. and N. Cen. TX, W. to ca. Travis and Bell Cos.; also OK. Summer-fall; our collections mostly Aug.-Nov.

This species is one whose highly caustic sap can cause severe dermatitis or conjunctivitis in sensitive persons. It is very similar to E. marginata, Snow-on-the-Mountain, which has broader leaves and bracts (ca. 2 to 4 times longer than wide) and less pubescent capsules. That species is more or less the western counterpart of E. bicolor and is often cultivated for its showy bracts. Our species, too, has some ornamental potential.

8. E. hexagona Nutt. ex Spreng. Six-angled Euphorbia, Green Spurge. Taprooted annual herb; stem usually single from the base, (2)4 to 10 dm tall, with decussate, pseudodichotomous ascending branches, stem and branches minutely strigillose. Leaves opposite, linear to narrowly- oblong,-lanceolate, or -elliptic, acute at both ends (10)15 to 50(70) mm long, 1 to 3 mm broad, entire, sparsely and minutely strigillose; petioles slender, 1 to 3 mm long, strigillose; stipules none or minute and gland-like. Cyathia solitary in the upper forks, 1.5 to 2 mm long, campanulate, strigillose; peduncles ca. 1 mm long; glands 5, transversely elliptic, ca. 0.2 mm long and 0.6 mm wide, deeply cupped, olivaceous; appendages white to green, deltoid, ca. twice as long as the width of the gland; staminate flowers 20 to 40 per cyathium; pedicel of pistillate flower long-exserted; ovary subglobose, styles 3, 0.5 to 1 mm long, bifid to about the middle, branches subclavate. Capsule 3 to 5 mm long, shallowly 3-lobed; seeds 2.5 to 3.3 mm long, ovoid to oblong, not angular, papillose, tuberculate, or roughened, not pitted, whitish to brown or black. Loose sandy soil of roadsides, open woods, etc. N. Cen. TX and Plains Country; in our area at least from sandy areas of Leon Co. around Normangee (perhaps more widespread and merely undercollected); MN and ND to WY, CO, and IA, S. to TX and NM. Late summer, our few collections from Sept.-Oct. [Zygophyllidium hexagonum (Nutt.) Small].

9. E. corollata L. Flowering Spurge, Blooming Spurge, White Pursley, Tramp's Spurge, Milkweed. Perennial herb from a deep, dark-barked root; stems (1)2 to 10 dm tall, 1 or few from base, erect or ascending, simple or with a few alternate branches below the inflorescence, branches of inflorescence umbellate, paniculate, or pseudo-dichotomous or -trichotomous; stems and branches glabrous to puberulent or variously pubescent. Cauline leaves alternate, (many or all often absent at flowering time), those of the midstem elliptic, oblong, or less commonly linear, (1)2 to 4(6) cm long, rounded or less often acute apically, base tapered or rounded, sessile or with a very short petiole, minutely appressed-pubescent, margin entire, stipules minute and glandlike; opposite leaves or inflorescence much smaller, subsessile. Inflorescence a corymbiform or paniculiform cyme. Cyathia on slender peduncles (1)2 to 30 mm long, campanulate, 1.5 to 3 mm long; glands 5, transversely linear, 0.6 mm broad, 0.2 mm long, deeply cupped; appendages white, often showy, 1.5 to 4.5 mm long, subreniform or orbicular to linear-oblong-apically rounded; staminate flowers ca. 10 to 15 per cyathium; pistillate flower with 3 styles ca. 0.7 mm long, bifid about half their length, branches clavellate. Capsule 2.5 to 4 mm long, plumply 3-lobed; seeds 2.3 to 2.5 mm long, ovoid, white, smooth. Sandy soils (also in calcareous soils and clays) of roadsides, wood edges, clearings, etc. Frequent in E., SE., and N. Cen. TX, rarer W. to E. edge of Ed. Plat.; S. Ont. and NY W. to NE, S. to FL and TX. May-Nov. [Includes var. angustifolia Ell. and var. mollis Millsp.; E. paniculata L.; E. ziniifolia Small; Tithymalopsis corollata (L.) Small; Agaloma corollata (L.) Raf.; A. angustifolia (Ell.) Raf.].

The Plains Indians used this plant in medicines as a laxative, as a treatment for rheumatism, and in vermifuge preparations. It was used in Anglo-American folk remedies as an emetic (Kindscher 1992.).

10. E. serpens Kunth in H.B.K. (=Chamaesyce serpens (Kunth) Small ) Mat Euphorbia, Hierba de la Golondrina, Round-leaved Spurge. Taprooted annual herb (perhaps overwintering?); stems prostrate, (4)15 to 60 cm long, often rooted at the lower nodes, well branched, the distal branches sometimes pseudodichotomous, herbage glabrous. Leaves opposite, oblong to orbicular or ovate-orbicular, 2 to 8 mm long, apically rounded, basally rounded and more or less oblique, entire; petiole ca. 0.5 to 1 mm long; stipules on both sides of the stem united in to a glabrous pinkish or whitish scale 0.2 to 1.3 mm long, entire to erose or lacerate. Cyathia solitary at the nodes and forks of the branches, greenish, urceolate-turbinate, ca. 0.7 mm long, the rim with minute deltoid-acuminate lobes between the glands; glands 4, ca. 0.1 mm long, oblong, short-stalked, cupped, sometimes reddish; petaloid appendages white to pinkish, about as long as the gland is wide, margin erose or crenate, occasionally appendages obsolete; staminate flowers 3 to 8(12) per cyathium; pedicel of pistillate flower long exserted, reflexed in age; styles 3, ca. 0.5 mm long, bifid about half their length or only briefly notched. Capsule triangular, ovoid-oblong, 1 to 1.5 mm long; columella ca. 1 mm long; seeds 4-angled (sometimes roundly so), narrowly oblong or ovoid-oblong, 0.7 to 1 mm long, apically acute, ventral facets slightly concave, surface smooth, brownish with a whitish coat, caruncle none. Roadsides, cultivated fields, etc., preferring calcareous soils. Essentially throughout the state, but less common in the W. half; Ont. to TN and FL, W. to MT, AZ, and NM; widespread in tropical and temperate America. Mar.-Nov..

11. E. prostrata Ait. (Chamaesyce prostrata (Ait.) Small ) Prostrate Euphorbia. Taprooted annual herb; stems 1 to many, prostrate (or occasionally briefly ascending and then falling over), 4 to 40 cm long, 0.3 to 1.5 mm thick, well-branched, only rarely pseudodichotomous, short-villous with crisped hairs or glabrate below. Leaves opposite, oblong to ovate-oblong, ca. 1.3 to 3 times longer than broad, 3 to 15 mm long, apically rounded, base rounded and oblique, margin serrulate, especially near the apex (use a lens), short-villous beneath, glabrate above; petioles 0.5 to 1 mm long; stipules mostly distinct on the upper side of the stem and united or approximate on the lower side, 0.3 to 1 mm long, slenderly deltoid, subulate, yellow to purplish, the margins white-strigose. Cyathia solitary at the upper nodes or generally on short lateral branches, 0.4 to 0.7 mm long, turbinate, sparsely villous; glands 4, suborbicular, 0.05 to 0.15(0.3) mm long, maroon, cupped; petaloid appendages white to pink, shorter than the glands are wide, margins erose; staminate flowers (2)4(5) per cyathium; pedicel of pistillate flower exserted, reflexed in age; styles 3, 0.1 mm long, bifid to the base or almost so. Capsule triangular-ovoid, 1.1 to 1.3(1.5) mm long, yellowish or greenish, crisply villous or strigose on the angles, the sides more or less glabrous; seeds pinkish-brown with a white coat, 0.9 to 1 mm long, oblong, apically acute, sharply quadrangular, each face with 5 to 7 low, sharp (or sometimes appearing square-topped) ridges, caruncle none. Common as a weed in disturbed areas, fields, cultivated areas, roadsides, etc. Frequent in most of TX but infrequent in the far W.; widespread at lower elevations in N. Am., including the W.I.; in the U.S. N. to SD and MO; introduced elsewhere. May-Sept.

For years and in many sources, this plant has been listed as E. chamaesyce L., a name which properly belongs to an Old World plant.

12. E. maculata L. (Chamaesyce maculata (L.) Small ) Spotted Spurge, Spotted Euphorbia. Taprooted annual; stems several from the base of the plant, usually prostrate or decumbent, 10 to 45 cm long, shaggy-villous, sometimes glabrate below or more dense on young stems. Leaves opposite, often with a central reddish or purplish splotch, oblong,-elliptic or -ovate to linear-oblong, sometimes curved or somewhat falcate, 4 to 17 mm long, apex obtuse to acute, base rounded to truncate, quite oblique, margin serrulate to subentire, lower surface more or less sparsely villous, less densely pubescent to glabrate above; petioles 1 to 1.5 mm long; stipules deltoid, acuminate, 1 to 1.5 mm long, usually divided into 2 or 3 parts, villous. Cyathia solitary at the distal nodes, but appearing clustered by shortening of the internodes, turbinate, ca. 0.8 to 1 mm long, villous; glands 4, oblong, unequal, two 0.4 to 0.6 mm long, the other two 0.2 to 0.3 mm long; petaloid appendages white to reddish, short, 0.2 to 1.4 mm long, crenate; staminate flowers 2 to 5 per cyathium; pedicel of pistillate flower exserted, often reflexed in age; styles 3, 0.3 to 0.4 mm long, bifid only 1/4 their length, the divisions clavellate. Capsule ca. 1.4 mm long, ovoid-triangular, usually more or less densely strigose; columella ca. 1.2 mm long, slender; seeds pale brown with a white coat, ca. 1 mm long, oblong-quadrangular, the faces with rounded, low, subregular transverse ridges which often slightly involve the angles, caruncle none. Common on a wide variety of soils (more common on disturbed sandy soils) of roadsides, cultivated areas, etc.; widespread E. of the Trans Pecos, rare in the higher elevations in Plains Country and Ed. Plat.; throughout the E. U.S., W. to ND and S. to TX; introduced in CA, OR, and Eur. Summer-fall, our collections Jun.-Oct. [E. supina Raf.; Chamaesyce supina (Raf.) Raf.; for years confused with E. nutans--many misidentified sheets exist.]

13. E. missurica Raf. (Chamaesyce missurica (Raf.) Shinners) Missouri Spurge, Prairie Spurge. Taprooted annual herb; stems erect to ascending or arcuate-ascending, 1 to several from the base, 7 to 10 dm tall, 0.5 to 4(6) mm thick, well-branched; herbage glabrous. Leaves opposite, linear to oblong, those of the midstem 1 to 3 cm long, 1 to 5 mm broad, apex rounded to truncate or emarginate (occasionally acute and often mucronate), base tapered to rounded, slightly oblique, margin entire, blades commonly revolute or folded along the midrib; petioles 1 to 2(3.2) mm long, slender; stipules free or partially united, 1 to 1.5 mm long, linear to triangular-subulate, entire or divided into up to 5 whitish to purplish linear or subulate lobes, each with a distinct yellow abscission zone basally. Cyathia solitary at the upper nodes or seemingly cymose due to shortened distal internodes, narrowly to broadly campanulate, 1.2 to 2 mm long; glands 4, orbicular to elliptic, 0.2 to 0.4 mm broad, folded or cupped; petaloid appendages white to pink, 1.5 to 4 times longer than the gland is wide, 0.5 to 2.5 mm long, subacute to rounded, sometimes emarginate, spreading, often reflexed or arched, sometimes appearing to be all on one side of the cyathium; staminate flowers 24 to 53 per cyathium; pedicel of pistillate flowers exserted, generally reflexed in age; styles 3, 0.7 to 1.5 mm long, bifid 1/2 to 3/4 their length, the divisions widely spreading, whitish. Capsule globose-ovoid, triangular in cross-section or more deeply lobed, 2 to 2.5 mm long; columella 1.9 to 2.1 mm long; seeds ovoid to ovoid-triangular, 1.5 to 2.2 mm long, 1.2 to 1.4 mm broad, angles (if present) rounded, surface smooth to slightly roughened-granular or with small low wrinkles, coat brownish-white; caruncle absent. Various habitats and soils, including sandy, rocky areas, roadsides, outcrops, prairies, etc. Common and widely distributed E. of the Trans Pecos, though rare in far E. TX; MN to MT, S. to NM and TX. June-Nov. [Includes var. intermedia Wheeler and var. calcicola (Shinners) Waterf.].

14. E. hypericifolia L. (Chamaesyce hypericifolia (L.) Millsp. ) Tropical Euphorbia. Taprooted annual herb 1 to 5 dm tall; stem usually single at the base, erect, soon branched, the branches erect or ascending, pseudodichotomous distally; herbage glabrous. Leaves opposite, blades varying from oblong-lanceolate to oblong, oblong-spatulate, or lanceolate, 10 to 35 mm long, apex rounded or sometimes acute, base obtuse to rounded, quite oblique, margin serrate, especially near the apex and base; petioles 1 to 1.5 mm long; stipules free or united, triangular, membranous, 1 to 2 mm long, sometimes the inner edges ciliate. Inflorescences dense lateral and terminal glomerules 5 to 10 mm across, peduncles of clusters nearly leafless or with very small leaves; peduncles of individual cyathia 0.4 to 2(4) mm long. Cyathia obconical, 0.4 to 0.9 mm broad; glands 5, suborbicular, 0.05 to 0.2 mm broad; petaloid appendages white to bright pink or purplish, suborbicular, usually about three times as long as the width of the larger glands, developing tardily and sometimes appearing absent on the younger cyathia; staminate flowers 2 to 20 per cyathium; pedicel of pistillate flower exserted, reflexed in age; styles 3, ca. 0.4 mm long, bifid about half their length. Capsule triangular ovoid with rounded edges, ca. 1.3 mm long; columella ca. 1.1 mm long; seed ovoid, 0.9 to 1 mm long, 0.5 mm broad, with very low smooth ridges separated by shallow, irregular depressions, reddish or brownish with a whitish coat. In our area mostly as a weed, common in flower beds and other cultivated areas. Once abundant only in far S. TX, now more or less widespread as a horticultural weed at least as far N. as Dallas; Venez. and Col. N. to FL, GA, and TX. Spring-fall. [C. glomifera Millsp.; E. glomifera (Millsp.) Wheeler].

15. E. nutans Lag. (Chamaesyce nutans (Lag.) Small ) Eyebane. Taprooted annual herb 3 to 8(10) dm tall; stem usually single from the base, 2-5 mm in width, erect, soon branched, the branches erect or ascending, pseudodichotomous distally, stems and branches glabrous or the distal internodes often with crisped white pubescence on 1 or 2 sides. Leaves opposite, often folding in the late afternoon, blades oblong-lanceolate to oblong, often curved or falcate, commonly with a central reddish-purple splotch, 8 to 40 mm long, apex rounded or acute, base rounded to truncate and decidedly inequilateral, margin serrate, upper surface usually glabrous, lower surface commonly pilose at least at the base, even if only with a few long hairs; petiole 1 to 2 mm long or some leaves subsessile; stipules united at each node or the distal ones distinct, triangular to subulate, 0.5 to 1.5 mm long, ciliate or lacerate. Cyathia solitary in the forks of the branches or in cymose clusters, these usually leafy and not dense (in contrast to those of E. hypericifolia, above). Cyathia 0.5 to 1.1 mm long, turbinate or obconical, sometimes reddish; glands 4(5), circular to elliptic, 0.1 to 0.5 mm broad; petaloid appendages white, from nearly obsolete to somewhat longer than the gland is wide, entire or irregularly lobed; staminate flowers 5 to 11(28) per cyathium; pedicel of pistillate flower exserted, styles 3, 0.6 to 1 mm long, bifid about half their length, yellowish. Capsule triangular ovoid, green, 1.6 to 2.3 mm long; columella 1.8 to 2 mm long; seeds ovoid, 1.1 to 1.6 mm long, 0.9 to 1.1 mm thick, whitish to dark brown, with about 5 to 9 fine, irregular wrinkles or rippled, caruncle absent. Prairies, cultivated areas, waste places, etc., often weedy and preferring moist locations. Abundant nearly throughout the state, except local in the Plains Country and Trans Pecos; widespread in warmer parts of the world. In the U.S. from NH and NY to ND, S. to FL, TX, and NM. May-Nov. [Euphorbia preslii Guss.].

For many years the name E. maculata was erroneously applied to this species, and it was published as such in multiple places (e.g. Steyermark 1963). It has also been listed under Chamaesyce hyssopifolia (L.) Small, but E. hyssopifolia is a different species.

This plant is reported to be poisonous, especially to livestock (GPFA 1986).

16. E. geyeri Engelm. var. geyeri (Chamaesyce geyeri (Engelm.) Small var. geyeri) Geyer Euphorbia, Geyer's Spurge. Taprooted annual; stems 6 to 25 per plant, prostrate, 5 to 45 cm long, 0.4 to 1.4 mm thick; herbage glabrous. Leaves opposite, oblong to ovate-oblong or elliptic-oblong, 4 to 12 mm long and ca. 1/2 as wide, apex obtuse or emarginate, sometimes mucronate, base obtuse or rounded, oblique, margins entire; petioles 1 to 2 mm long; stipules free or those on the lower side of the stem sometimes united, 1 to 1.5 mm long, with (2)3(5) filiform segments. Cyathia solitary in the upper forks or apparently clustered due to shortened distal internodes, turbinate to broadly campanulate, 0.9 to 1.5 mm long; glands 4, often reddish, broadly oval to suborbicular, 0.2 to 0.4(1.6)