Common Name: SPURGE FAMILY Habit: Annual to shrub, tree [vine, cactus-like succulent]; monoecious or dioecious; sap clear or milky. Stem: generally branched [fleshy or spiny]. Leaf: generally simple, alternate to whorled, generally stipuled, sessile or petioled; blade entire, toothed, or lobed. Inflorescence: flowers solitary or in terminal or axillary cymes, racemes, spikes, or panicles, or (in Euphorbia) 1° inflorescence a compact, flower-like cyathium with much-reduced flowers enclosed within an involucre of fused bracts, cyathia terminal or axillary, 1 or in cyme-like arrays. Flower: unisexual, +- radial; sepals 0 or 2--6, free or fused; petals generally 0(5); stamens 1--many, free or filaments fused; ovary superior, chambers (1)3(4), styles free or fused, undivided, forked, or variously lobed. Fruit: generally capsule that splits into mericarps that then dehisce, releasing seeds. Seed: 1 per chamber; knob-like appendage sometimes present at attachment scar. Genera In Family: 217 genera, 6000+ species: +- worldwide especially tropics; some cultivated (Aleurites, tung oil; Euphorbia species; Hevea, rubber; Ricinus). Toxicity: Many species +- highly TOXIC, due primarily to latex, especially if eaten or in contact with skin, eyes. Note:Eremocarpus moved to Croton, Tetracoccus moved to Picrodendraceae for TJM2; Chamaesyce moved to Euphorbia here (key to genera revised by Thomas J. Rosatti). eFlora Treatment Author: Mark H. Mayfield & Grady L. Webster, except as noted Scientific Editor: Bruce G. Baldwin.
Habit: [Annual, perennial herb] shrub; sap clear; generally monoecious. Stem: central erect, generally much-branched; lateral spreading to ascending. Leaf: cauline, alternate; hairs simple, sometimes glandular. Inflorescence: spike, terminal or axillary; staminate bracts minute; pistillate bracts leaf-like, toothed. Staminate Flower: sepals 4; stamens 4--8, filaments free or fused at base; nectary disk 0. Pistillate Flower: sepals 3(5); nectary 0; ovary 3-chambered, styles 3, deeply cut. Fruit: +- spheric, smooth or +- lobed. Seed: smooth to pitted; scar appendage minute. Etymology: (Greek: ancient name for a kind of nettle) eFlora Treatment Author: Mark H. Mayfield & Grady L. Webster
Acalypha californica Benth.
NATIVE Habit: Plant < 1.5 m, hairy, +- glandular. Leaf: stipules 2--5 mm, linear; petiole < 1.5 cm; blade 1--2 cm, ovate to +- deltate, base truncate to +- lobed, margin crenate. Staminate Inflorescence: 1.5--4 cm, slender. Pistillate Inflorescence: < 2 cm; bracts together cup-like, hairy, margin glandular. Staminate Flower: sepals +- 0.5 mm, puberulent; stamens >> sepals. Pistillate Flower: sepals +- 1 mm, puberulent; ovary +- 1 mm diam, puberulent, styles +- red. Fruit: 1--3 mm diam, puberulent. Ecology: Rocky slopes, chaparral, oak woodland; Elevation: < 1300 m. Bioregional Distribution: s SCo (near San Diego), PR, w DSon; Distribution Outside California: Baja California. Flowering Time: Jan--Jun Jepson eFlora Author: Mark H. Mayfield & Grady L. Webster Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Previous taxon: Acalypha Next taxon: Bernardia
Botanical illustration including Acalypha californica
Citation for this treatment: Mark H. Mayfield & Grady L. Webster 2012, Acalypha californica, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=11696, accessed on January 25, 2025.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2025, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on January 25, 2025.
Geographic subdivisions for Acalypha californica:
s SCo (near San Diego), PR, w DSon
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(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurrence).
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Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).
