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: Shrub; sap clear; [monoecious] dioecious. Stem: erect, generally much-branched. Leaf: cauline, alternate; hairs simple or stellate. Staminate Inflorescence: spike or raceme, axillary. Pistillate Inflorescence: terminal; flower occasionally 1. Staminate Flower: sessile or short-pedicelled; calyx splitting into 3--4 parts; stamens 3--25, filaments free; nectar disk minute or 0. Pistillate Flower: sessile; sepals 4--6; nectar disk 0; ovary 3-chambered, styles 3, free, 2-lobed or -toothed. Fruit: 3-lobed. Seed: scar appendaged. Etymology: (Bernard de Jussieu, French taxonomist, 1699--1776) Note:Bernardia myricifolia (Scheele) S. Watson not in California. eFlora Treatment Author: Mark H. Mayfield & Grady L. Webster
Bernardia incana C.V. Morton
NATIVE Habit: Plant < 2.5 m, hairy. Leaf: stipules +- 1 mm, deciduous; petiole 1--5 mm; blade 0.5--3 cm, elliptic, tip obtuse or rounded, margin crenate. Staminate Inflorescence: raceme; pedicel 3--4 mm. Pistillate Inflorescence: flower 1, sessile. Staminate Flower: stamens 12--15; nectar disk of small glands. Pistillate Flower: sepals 5, +- 2 mm, unequal; ovary tomentose, styles jagged. Fruit: 8--10 mm diam, tomentose. Seed: 5 mm, smooth; back ribbed. Ecology: Washes, rocky canyons; Elevation: < 1200 m. Bioregional Distribution: s DMoj, DSon; Distribution Outside California: to Texas, Mexico. Flowering Time: Apr--May, Oct--Nov Jepson eFlora Author: Mark H. Mayfield & Grady L. Webster Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Previous taxon: Bernardia Next taxon: Croton
Citation for this treatment: Mark H. Mayfield & Grady L. Webster 2012, Bernardia incana, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=15609, accessed on December 03, 2024.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on December 03, 2024.
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