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 to subshrub; sap clear; generally monoecious; hairs 0 or generally 2-branched, generally appressed. Stem: spreading to erect, 1--10 dm. Leaf: alternate, stipuled. Inflorescence: raceme, axillary; staminate flowers generally distal to pistillate flowers; axis appressed- to spreading-hairy; bracts entire. Staminate Flower: sepals 5, edges abutting in bud; petals 5; stamens 5--15, generally in 2 sets, some > others, filaments fused into a column, staminodes 0--3 at column tip. Pistillate Flower: sepals 5, overlapping in bud; petals 5; nectar disk +- dissected; ovary 3-chambered, styles 3, 2-lobed. Fruit: smooth. Seed: surface +- striate to pitted [net-like]; scar not appendaged. Etymology: (Greek: 2-ranked, from 2 sets of anthers) eFlora Treatment Author: Mark H. Mayfield & Grady L. Webster
Ditaxis neomexicana (Müll. Arg.) A. Heller
NATIVE Habit: Annual or perennial herb. Stem: 1--3.5 dm, densely appressed-hairy. Leaf: 1--3.5 cm; stipules 1--1.5 mm, entire; blade lanceolate, +- hairy, entire to faintly toothed. Staminate Flower: sepals 2--2.5 mm; petals +- 2 mm, glabrous; stamen column +- 1 mm. Pistillate Flower: sepals 3--4 mm, abaxially hairy, margin +- entire; petals +- 2.5 mm, lanceolate, glabrous or appressed-hairy, hairs not exceeding petal tip; ovary stiff-hairy, styles free, lobe tips not expanded. Fruit: 3--4 mm. Seed: +- 2 mm, angled, pitted. Ecology: Slopes, creosote-bush scrub; Elevation: < 1000 m. Bioregional Distribution: s edge DMoj, DSon; Distribution Outside California: to Texas, Mexico. Flowering Time: Mar--Dec Synonyms: Argythamnia neomexicana Müll. Arg. Jepson eFlora Author: Mark H. Mayfield & Grady L. Webster Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Previous taxon: Ditaxis lanceolata Next taxon: Ditaxis serrata
Botanical illustration including Ditaxis neomexicana
Citation for this treatment: Mark H. Mayfield & Grady L. Webster 2012, Ditaxis neomexicana, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=23176, accessed on September 15, 2024.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on September 15, 2024.
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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 markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location.
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Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
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Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).
