David's toothed spurge

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David's toothed spurge inflorescence

David's toothed spurge

David's toothed spurge

David's toothed spurge

David's toothed spurge

David's toothed spurge

Morphology

Stem

Ascending to erect, branched, sparsely hirsute and strigulose, longer hairs proximal to inflorescence stout, stiff, and retrorse; sap milky.

Leaves

Mostly opposite, upper ones occasionally alternate; stipules absent or minute and gland-like; petiole .27 to 1 inch; blade .4 to 4 inches long, .2 to 1.4 inch wide, elliptic to lanceolate, base symmetric, wedge-shaped to tapering to a long point, margins crenate-dentate, tip acute to acuminate or obtuse, lower surface strigose, upper surface sparsely strigose to hirsute.

Inflorescence

Cup-shaped receptacles, terminal, subtended by pale green-based bracts or bracts entirely green; peduncle less than 1/25 inch; involucres bell-shaped to cylindric, about .1 inch long, .05 to .08 inch wide, glabrous; gland 1, yellowish green, obconic; appendage absent.

Flower

Staminate flowers 5-8; sepals 0; petals 0; stamen 1. Pistillate flower: sepals 0; petals 0; ovary glabrous or sparsely strigose; styles 2-cleft for 3/4 to 1/2 their length.

Fruit

Capsules ovoid, 3-lobed, ca. 1/8 inch, glabrous; seeds black to brown or gray, usually strongly mottled, ovoid, unevenly tuberculate; caruncle present.

Ecology

Habitat

Tallgrass, mixed-grass, shortgrass, sand, and sandsage prairies, river and stream banks, flood plains, roadsides, disturbed sites.

Distribution

Occurs statewide

Additional Notes