Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Prostrate to erect perennial from a slender woody taproot, 5-30 cm long, pilose with slender, often clavate hairs.

Leaves: Blades ovate, ovate-oblong, or deltoid-ovate, acute to rounded at apex, somewhat oblique at base, 1-10 mm, margins entire and often faintly revolute, minute stipules.

Flowers: On peduncles 1-4 mm long, cyathia solitary or nearly so, involucres long-turbinate to urceolate, 0.6-0.8 mm in diameter, 1.2-1.5 mm long, sparsely pilosulous without, glabrous within, subulate lobes equaling lands, ciliate-margined; red glands, transversely oblong, oval appendages, 0.5-1 mm long, white with a roseate tinge, sometimes cordate; 5-12 staminate flowers per cyathia.

Fruits: Subspherical capsule, about 1.5 mm in diameter, lobed and faintly hairy.

Ecology: Found on gravelly slopes and rocky hillsides from 1,000-4,000 (305-1219 m); flowers March-November.

Distribution: CA to TX; south to MEX

Notes: As with all species in the genus, difficult to tell apart. Pay attention first to its being perennial and as a consequence having many more flowers, second look at the entire to crenulate petaloid appendages, and finally to the mostly club-shaped hairs.

Ethnobotany: Unknown, but other species in the genera have many uses.

Etymology: Euphorbia is named for Euphorbus, Greek physician of Juba II, King of Mauretania, while arizonica means of or from Arizona.

Synonyms: Chamaesyce versicolor, Euphorbia arizonica, Euphorbia versicolor

Editor: SBuckley, 2010

Plant: Perennial; sap milky; stem prostrate to erect, hairy; branches alternate

Leaves: cauline, opposite, short-petioled, 2-10 mm; stipules generally separate, minute; blade ovate, hairy, tip acute, margin entire, blade base generally asymmetric; veins dark green

INFLORESCENCE: flower-like, generally 1 per node; involucre < 2 mm, urn-shaped, hairy; gland < 0.5 mm, ovate, appendage wider than gland, entire, white to pink

Flowers: Staminate flowers 5-10, generally in 5 clusters around pistillate flower, each flower a stamen; Pistillate flower: 1, central, stalked; ovary chambers 3, ovule 1 per chamber, styles 3, divided 1/2 length

Fruit: capsule, < 2 mm, spheric, lobed, hairy; Seed ± 1 mm, ovoid, transversely ridged, white to brown

Misc: Sandy flats; < 300 m.; Mar-Apr