Texas
Wildbuds

Euphorbia dentata

(Toothed Spurge)

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Euphorbia dentata, San Angelo State Park, Tom Green Co. 1133

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Euphorbia dentata, San Angelo State Park, Tom Green Co. 1137

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Euphorbia dentata, San Angelo State Park, Tom Green Co. 1122

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Euphorbia dentata, San Angelo State Park, Tom Green Co. 1126

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Euphorbia dentata, San Angelo State Park, Tom Green Co. 1129-1

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Euphorbia dentata, San Angelo State Park, Tom Green Co. 1129-2

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Euphorbia dentata, San Angelo State Park, Tom Green Co. 1129-3

Scientific Name Euphorbia dentata USDA PLANTS Symbol EUDE4
Common Name Toothed Spurge, Toothed-leaf Poinsettia ITIS Taxonomic Serial No. 502535
Family Euphorbiaceae (Spurge) SEINet
Reference
Click Here
Description Habitat: Various soils on dry plains, woodlands, thickets, roadsides and other disturbed areas; 0-3300 ft.
Plant: Erect annual 6 to 24 inches tall, stems are hairy and simply branched.
Leaves: Stem leaves are opposite except the lowest which are alternate, lanceolate to oblanceolate, 5/8 to 2-3/8 inches long; margins are usually coarsely crenate-dentate and tips are pointed; on petioles 2/5 to 4/5-inch long.
Inflorescence: Flat-topped tight clusters of very small, 1/16-inch-wide cyathia (the name for flowers in the spurge family) at the tips of most branches, each cluster up to 1+ inches across atop a straight floral stem; each subtended by green, leaf-like lanceolate bracts (1/4 to 2-1/2 inches long) and larger green leaves that are often white to reddish at the base of their upper surfaces; each cyathium has both female and male flowers, neither with petals nor sepals; the pistil of the female cyanthium has a round ovary that becomes the fruit capsule. For a more detailed description of the cyathia click here.
Bloom Period: Spring through fall.
Fruit: Small, round, 3-lobed, green, fruit capsule less than 1/4 inch across.
References: "Manual of the Vascular Plants of Texas" by Correll and Johnston, Arkansas Native Plant Society, iNaturalist, Flora of North America and SEINet.
Note: It is possible that the plants in the photos are E. davidii, a very similar species with leaves that are "usually narrowly to broadly elliptic, occasionally lance-elliptic...", the lower leaf surface is "strigose with stiff, strongly tapered hairs", the upper "sparsely strigose-hirsute..." per Flora of North America.
BONAP Distribution Map


Map Color Key
Texas Status:
Native

Banner photo of Castilleja indivisa and Lupinus ssp. taken along FM 1323 north of Johnson City, Blanco County

© Tom Lebsack 2024