Euphorbia incisa

Jepson 1993, Kearney and Peebles 1969, McDougall 1973

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Herbaceous perennials, sometimes becoming bushy, to 35 cm tall, stems purplish, several, erect to ascending, herbage glabrous to slightly pubescent, plant arising from a root-crown, stems sometimes suffrutescent. Leaves: Small, alternate, elliptical to oblanceolate, 8-15 mm long, acute at the tips, margins entire, borne sessile or subsessile, without stipules. Flowers: Monoecious, borne within a clustered, flower-like involucre (cyathium), involucres green, campanulate, to 3 mm in diameter, involucre margins with 1-5 nectariferous glands, these brownish, hornless, irregularly toothed, 2-2.5 mm wide, petaloid appendages absent, subtended to enclosed by ciliate, narrowly deltoid lobes 2 mm long or less, staminate flowers in usually 5 glomerules, these less than 20, which surround a solitary, central, stalked, pistillate flower, ovary chambers 3, ovule 1 per chamber, style divided for less than half its length, inflorescences closely subtended by leafy bracts, these ovate to cordate, 5-10 mm long, inflorescences borne terminal at branch tips, with usually 3, sometimes 4 or 5 main rays. Fruits: Capsule oblong, lobed, 4-5 mm long. Seeds oblong-ellipsoid to rounded, gray to white, 2-3 mm long, surfaces reticulate to smooth. Ecology: Found from 3,000-9,000 ft (914-2743 m); flowering February-August. Distribution: Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada. Notes: Kearney and Peebles, Jepson, and USDA PLANTS treat this species as a synonym for E. schizoloba, although current taxonomy has both of these species as accepted (TROPICOS). Unable to locate any sources which outline the differences between these two species. Ethnobotany: Plant used to increase fertility, as well as increase fertility in lifestock. Etymology: Euphorbia is named for Euphorbus, Greek physician of Juba II, King of Mauretania, while incisa means incised, deeply or irregularly cut. Synonyms: None Editor: LCrumbacher 2012