Family: Euphorbiaceae
Euphorbia wheeleri
Citation:
Baillon, Adansonia 6:286 (1866).
Synonymy: Chamaesyce wheeleri (Baillon) Hassall, Aust. J. Bot. 24:640 (1976).
, Chamaesyce mitchelliana, Chamaesyce myrtoides, Euphorbia mitchelliana, Euphorbia myrtoides Common name: Wheelers spurge.
Description:
Erect-ascending apparently annual glabrous herb, stems arising from the tap root, many-branched from the base, often swollen at the nodes and appearing articulate, green to reddish-brown, to 30 cm long; leaves opposite, distinctly petiolate, the pairs rather distant, ovate-oblong, 3-10 sometimes to 15 mm long, 1-5 mm wide, entire or slightly serrulate, obtuse to truncate, green, drying reddish, asymmetrical at the base, distinct central nerve sometimes terminating in a small mucro; stipules triangular, to 0.8 mm long, entire or lobed to incised, pale-green.
Cyathia solitary and axillary or terminal and 1 or 2, on peduncles to 0.5 mm long; involucre turbinate, to 1 mm long, pale-green; glands reniform, c. 0.5 mm long, red, bordered by white or the appendage almost entirely red; styles filiform, divided nearly to the base, ascending.
capsule oblong, 3-lobed, 2-2.5 x 1.8-2 mm, glabrous, smooth, drooping when mature; seed quadrangular-oblong, 1.5-2 x 0.7-1 mm, more or less angular, deeply reticulate-foveate, white- to pink-brown, without a caruncle.
| Euphorbia wheeleri twig, cyathium, fruit and seed.
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Image source: fig 403c in Jessop J.P. & Toelken H.R. (Ed.) 1986. Flora of South Australia (4th edn).
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Distribution:
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Not uncommon, on sand plains and more often on crest and upper slopes of sandhills in deep red sands.
S.Aust.: NW, LE, GT, FR. W.Aust.; N.T.; Qld.
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Conservation status:
native
Flowering time: most of the year.
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SA Distribution Map based
on current data relating to
specimens held in the
State Herbarium of South Australia
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Biology:
No text
Taxonomic notes:
Has some resemblance to E. drummondii which is a prostrate plant.
Author:
Not yet available
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