Euphorbia nutans Lagasca y Segura. Common name: Eyebane, Upright Spotted Spurge. Phenology: May-Oct. Habitat: Fields, gardens, waste places, flood-scoured shores and bars, disturbed ground. Distribution: NH west to MI and ND, south to Panhandle FL and TX; south into the Neotropics, and introduced in various places worldwide.
ID notes: The leaves tend to fold late in the day.
Origin/Endemic status: Native
Synonymy ⓘ: = Ar, C, FNA12, GrPl, K3, K4, Mex, Mi, NE, NY, Pa, Tn, Tx, Va, W, Govaerts, Frodin, & Radcliffe-Smith (2000); = Chamaesyce hyssopifolia (L.) Small – S, misapplied; = Chamaesyce nutans (Lag.) Small – Fl2, GW2, Il, K1, NcTx, S13, WH3; = Euphorbia maculata L. – F, RAB, Tat, WV, misapplied; = Euphorbia preslii Guss. – G
Links to other floras: = Euphorbia nutans - FNA12
Wetland Indicator Status:
- Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FACU
- Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: FACU
- Great Plains: FACU
- Midwest: FACU
- Northcentral & Northeast: FACU
Heliophily ⓘ: 8
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Horticultural Information
Intro: Erect to ascending annual of agricultural fields, gardens, waste places and other sites with open, disturbed ground.
Stems: Stems branched, reddish, hairy when new but becoming smooth, leaking milky sap when broken.
Leaves: Leaves opposite, mostly sessile, narrowly oval with asymmetric base and blunt tip, 1/2-1 1/2 in. long, finely toothed, upper surface darker than lower, with occasional red markings, hairy when new but becoming smooth.
Inforescence:
Flowers: Flowers in small, terminal (a few axillary) clusters. Each "flower" is actually a cup, 1/8 in. wide, that holds male and female flowers, its rim with 4 white to pink, semi-circular petal-like appendages that bear a greenish-red, thickened gland at the base; male flower anthers are yellow and nearly indistinct, and the single female flower in the cup center consists of a clump of styles sitting atop a rounded, 3-lobed ovary on a short stalk.
Fruits: Fruit a smooth, 3-lobed capsule.
Comments:
Height: 8-36 in.
plant sale text:
bloom table text:
description: Erect to ascending annual of agricultural fields, gardens, waste places and other sites with open, disturbed ground.
stems: Stems branched, reddish, hairy when new but becoming smooth, leaking milky sap when broken.
leaves: Leaves opposite, mostly sessile, narrowly oval with asymmetric base and blunt tip, 1/2-1 1/2 in. long, finely toothed, upper surface darker than lower, with occasional red markings, hairy when new but becoming smooth.
inflorescence:
flowers: Flowers in small, terminal (a few axillary) clusters. Each "flower" is actually a cup, 1/8 in. wide, that holds male and female flowers, its rim with 4 white to pink, semi-circular petal-like appendages that bear a greenish-red, thickened gland at the base; male flower anthers are yellow and nearly indistinct, and the single female flower in the cup center consists of a clump of styles sitting atop a rounded, 3-lobed ovary on a short stalk.
fruits: Fruit a smooth, 3-lobed capsule.
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