Euphorbia hypericifolia L.

Locations ofEuphorbia hypericifolia L. in Virginia

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Detail

Family
Euphorbiaceae
Botanical Name
Euphorbia hypericifolia L.
Common Name
Graceful Sandmat
Synonym(s)
Flora of Virginia Name/Status
Not in Flora of Virginia (discovered after its publication)
Comments
Euphorbia hypericifolia is native to the tropical Americas and is widespread, but of uncertain nativity, in the U.S. Gulf coastal states. It has been found as an adventive northward in scattered areas, e.g., Arizona, California, Maryland, and South Carolina. Dr. John Hayden of the University of Richmond has collected the species from six sites in four Virginia counties, the first population in 1989 but the remainder in the last few years. Euphorbia hypericifolia bears some resemblance to the ubiquitous E. nutans and could easily be overlooked by many botanists for that reason. It differs in having cyathia in large, capitate glomerules with reduced bract-like leaves subtending them (vs. cyathia solitary at distal nodes or in small cymose clusters at branch tips in E. nutans).
Habitat
A weed of highly ruderal habitats; around greenhouses and in cultivated beds and gardens; cracks in parking lot and sidewalk pavements. Currently known from six scattered sites across central Virginia but likely under-documented.
Native Status
Introduced

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