Duration: Perennial Nativity: Non-Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Herbaceous annuals, to 80 cm tall, stems erect, branching several times from the base, herbage, glabrous to hairy. Leaves: Alternate, blade linear to oblanceolate, 2-6 cm long, tips acute, margins entire, surfaces glabrous, blades sessile. Flowers: Bright green, with staminate and pistillate flowers borne in bright green bell-shaped involucres (bracts), these bell-shaped and 1.5-2.5 mm long with glabrous surfaces, also with shiny bright green glands, these crescent-shaped and 2-horned, 1.5-2 mm long; staminate flowers 11-21, generally in 5 clusters around the stalked, solitary and central pistillate flowers, ovary chambers 3 with 1 ovule per chamber, styles 3, divided for half their length. Fruits: Lobed spheric capsules 3-5 mm long with granular to smooth surfaces. Seeds oblong and rounded, yellowish brown, 2-2.5 mm long. Ecology: Found in fields and pastures below 4,500 ft (1372 m); flowering Distribution: This species has not been recognized as occurring in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, or Nevada, and is not treated in older versions of Kearney and Peebles; the closest states to the southwest this species has been reported in are California, Colorado and Kan Notes: This plant is listed under E. virgata in Jepson as of May 2012, who notes it is considered a noxious weed. Synonyms: Many, see Tropicos Editor: LCrumbacher2012
Strong-rooted, vigorously colonial perennial, erect, 3-7 dm, glabrous, usually with numerous alternate flowering branches below the umbel; cauline lvs linear to lance-linear or narrowly oblanceolate, mostly 3-8 cm נ3-8 mm, obtuse to mucronate, essentially 1-nerved, the lateral veins very obscure, leaving the midrib at an angle of 15-35л lvs subtending the umbel shorter and broader, lanceolate to ovate, those of the umbel opposite, broadly cordate or reniform; rays of the primary umbel mostly 7-15; fr 3-3.5 mm, finely granular; seeds ellipsoid, 2-2.5 mm; 2n=20, 60, 64. Native of Eurasia, widely established in N. Amer. from New England to the Pacific, s. to Md., Ind., Io., and Colo. Summer. (Tithymalus e.; Galarhoeus e.; Euphorbia intercedens; E. podperae; E. virgata, at least as applied to N. Amer. plants)
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
