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Key to families | Table of families and genera

Previous taxon Indexes to all accepted names and synonyms:
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EUPHORBIACEAE SPURGE FAMILY

Mark H. Mayfield & Grady L. Webster, except as noted

Annual to shrub, tree [ vine]; monoecious or dioecious.
Stem: generally branched [ fleshy or spiny].
Leaf: generally simple, alternate or opposite, generally stipuled, petioled; blade entire, toothed, or palmately lobed.
Inflorescence: terminal or axillary panicle, raceme or spike, or (Chamaesyce, Euphorbia) a compact unit enclosed by an involucre appearing flower-like, terminal or axillary, 1 or in whorled, umbel-like, or cyme-like arrays.
Flower: unisexual, ± radial; sepals generally 3–5, free or fused; petals generally 0; stamens 1–many, free or filaments fused; ovary superior, chambers 1–4, styles free or fused, simple or lobed.
Fruit: generally capsule.
Seed: 1 per chamber; seed scar appendage sometimes present, pad- to dome-like.
218 genera, 6000+ species: ± worldwide especially tropics; some cultivated (Aleurites, tung oil; Euphorbia species; Hevea, rubber; Ricinus). Many species ± highly TOXIC. [Wurdack & Davis 2009 Amer J Bot 96:1551–1570] Eremocarpus moved to Croton. Tetracoccus moved to Picrodendraceae. —Scientific Editor: Bruce G. Baldwin.
Unabridged references: [Webster 1994 Ann Missouri Bot Gard 81:1–144]

Key to Euphorbiaceae

TRIADICA TALLOWTREE

Bruce G. Baldwin

Tree [ shrub]; sap milky; monoecious.
Stem: branches slender, glabrous.
Leaf: cauline, alternate; petiole tip with adaxial pair of large, ± spheroid glands; blade entire, adaxially glabrous, abaxially papillate- glaucous, with 0–few glands near margins.
Inflorescence: spike-like panicles or racemes, terminal or axillary, elongate, yellow-green; bracts 1–2 mm, with pair of large glands; pedicels 2–3 mm in ours; pistillate flowers basal, 1/ bract; staminate flowers distal or throughout, generally 5–8/ bract.
Staminate flower: sepals 3, fused; stamens 2 or 3, filaments generally < 1 mm; nectary disk 0.
Pistillate flower: sepals 3, fused; nectary disk 0; ovary 3-chambered, styles 3, fused proximally, simple.
Fruit: ± spheric or ± 3-lobed, smooth.
Seed: ± white, often staying attached to persistent fruit axis.
3 species: native to e & se Asia. (Greek: 3, for lobes of calyx, ovary, fruit) [Bower et al. 2009 Inv Plant Sci Managem 2:386–395; Esser 2002 Harvard Pap Bot 7:17–21]

T. sebifera (L.) Small CHINESE TALLOWTREE
NATURALIZED
Plant to 13 m; deciduous.
Leaf: petiole 2–7 cm; blade 3–9 cm, widely elliptic to ± (ob) ovate or triangular-(ob) ovate, acuminate.
Inflorescence: 4–16 cm.
Pistillate flower: 0–17.
Fruit: ± 13 mm; pedicel 4–13 mm.
Seed: 6–9 mm, ± spheric.
Stream edges; 10–300 m. n Sierra Nevada Foothills, Great Central Valley; native to Asia. [Sapium sebiferum (L.) Roxb.] Spring–summer {Weed listed by BAEDN and Cal-IPCI} [Online Interchange]

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Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) [year] Jepson eFlora, http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/IJM.html [accessed on month, day, year]
Citation for an individual treatment: [Author of taxon treatment] [year]. [Taxon name] in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, [URL for treatment]. Accessed on [month, day, year].

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Bioregions in which taxon occurs Markers link to CCH specimen records. If the markers are obscured, reload the page [or change window size and reload]. Yellow markers indicate records that may provide evidence for eFlora range revision or may have georeferencing or identification issues.
map of distribution 1

Chart based on elevation range in Manual and elevations and coordinates of CCH records.
Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria.
Note: About half of the CCH records include both elevation and coordinates.
Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria.
View all CCH records

 

CCH collections by month

Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa.
Blue line denotes Manual flowering time.