Compilation
Euphorbia mauritanica

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Name

Identification
Euphorbia mauritanica L. [family EUPHORBIACEAE ]
Related name
  • Euphorbia mauritanica

Flora

Entry for EUPHORBIA mauritanica Linn. [family EUPHORBIACEAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora Capensis
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora Capensis, Vol 5, Part 2, page 216, (1925) Author: (By N. E. BROWN, J. HUTCHINSON and D. PRAIN.)
Names
EUPHORBIA mauritanica Linn. [family EUPHORBIACEAE], Sp. Pl. ed. i. 452, and Amœn. Acad. iii. 111;—Mill. Gard. Dict. ed. viii. no. 16; Ait. Hort. Kew. ed. 1, ii. 137; Willd. Sp. Pl. ii. 889, and Enum. Pl. Hort. Berol. 502; Thunb. Prodr. 86, and Fl. Cap. ed. Schult. 405; Poir. Encycl. Suppl. ii. 610; Spreng. Syst. Veg. iii. 788; Boiss. in DC. Prodr. xv. ii. 94; Berger, Sukk. Euphorb. 26 and 20, fig. 3; Marloth in Wissensch. Ergebn. Deutsch. Tiefsee-Exped. ii. iii. 234, 295, figs. 94 and 119.
EUPHORBIA mauritiana Bernh. [family EUPHORBIACEAE], in Flora, 1845, 87, and in Krauss, Beitr. Fl. Capund Natal. 150.
EUPHORBIA Tirucalli Thunb. [family EUPHORBIACEAE], Prodr. 86, and Fl. Cap. ed. Schult. 405 partly, as to sheet 4 of his Herbarium, not of Linn.
EUPHORBIA phymatoclada Boiss. [family EUPHORBIACEAE], Cent. Euphorb. 24, and in DC. Prodr. xv. ii. 95.
EUPHORBIA Hydnoræ E. Meyer [family EUPHORBIACEAE], in Drège, Zwei Pfl. Documente, 184, ex Boiss. in DC. Prodr. xv. ii. 95.
EUPHORBIA melanosticta E. Meyer [family EUPHORBIACEAE], in Drège, Zwei Pfl. Documente, 184, exBoiss. in DC. Prodr. xv. ii. 95.
Tithymalus virgatus Haw. [family ], Syn. Pl. Succ. 139.
Tithymalus Zeyheri Klotzsch & Garcke [family ], in Abhandl. Akad. Berlin, 71.
Tithymalus brachypus Klotzsch & Garcke [family ], l.c. 74.
Tithymalus aphyllus Mauritaniæ Dill. [family ], Hort. Eltham. 384, t. 289.
Information
a succulent, spineless shrub, 3–4 ft. high, branching throughout, leafy only on the young growths; branches alternate, erect, terete, smooth, marked or sometimes somewhat tubercled with alternate leaf-scars, the younger or flowering branches 1/8– 1/4 in. thick, becoming thicker with age, glabrous, green, not glaucous; leaves sessile, soon deciduous, 1/4–1 in. long, 1–3 lin. broad, linear-lanceolate or lanceolate, acute, glabrous, green; umbels terminal, simple 3–5-rayed, when young with about 3 leaf-like very deciduous bracts at the base; rays or peduncles 2–6 lin. long, each bearing 1 involucre, and when immature a pair of very deciduous ovate acute deeply concave bracts 1 1/2–2 lin. long and 1 1/2 lin. broad, glabrous; involucre in dried specimens about 1/4 in. in diam. and 1/8 in. deep, cup-shaped, glabrous, with 5 glands and 5 subquadrate bifid or emarginate ciliate lobes; glands 1 1/4–1 1/3 lin. in diam., suborbicular, entire, “yellowish-green” (Miller); ovary exserted on a curved pedicel 2–3 lin. long, glabrous; styles 2/3–1 1/2 lin. long, united at the basal third, bifid at the apex; capsule 2 3/4–3 1/2 lin. in diam., 3-lobed as seen from above, with subobtuse angles; seeds 1 1/2–1 3/4 lin. long, oblong, grey, speckled with black. null
Distribution
CENTRAL REGION Calvinia Div.; Karoo flats west of Calvinia, Diels, 655! between Blaukrantz Pass and Karieboemfontein, Pearson, 3481! Laingsburg Div.; Matjesfontein, MacOwan, 3314! 3326! and in Herb. Austr.-Afr., 1954! Somerset Div.; near Somerset East, MacOwan, 363! Cradock Div.; near Cradock, Burtt-Davy, 9846! Graaff Reinet Div.; near Graaff Reinet, Bolus, 805! Beaufort West Div.; Nieuweveld Mountains, near Beaufort West, Drège! Carnarvon Div.; north exit of Karreeberg Poort, Burchell, 1578! Carnarvon, Schönland! Colesberg Div.; Naauwpoort, Rogers, 1029!COAST REGION Clanwilliam Div.; Clanwilliam, Leipoldt, 237! Olifants River Mountains and Valley, Pearson, 7332! Diels, 1147! Malmesbury Div.; near Theefontein, Bachmann, 1041! Hopefield, Bachmann, 2154! Worcester Div.; near Worcester, Marloth, 4877! Cape Div.; various localities, Bergius! Zeyher! Ecklon & Zeyher, Euphorb. 22 partly! and 26! Pappe! Krauss, 1733! Wolley-Dod, 1629! Stellenbosch Div.; near Gordons Bay, Treleaven in MacOwan, Herb. Austr.-Afr., 1953! Caledon Div.; Zoetemelks River, Gill! Swellendam Div.; Barrydale, Galpin, 4566! Riversdale Div.; Tygerfontein, Galpin, 4560! Oudts-hoorn Div.; Oudtshoorn, Miss Britten! Mossel Bay Div.; near Little Brak River, Burchell, 6197/3! Rogers, 4222! Uitenhage Div.; various localities, Burchell, 4227! Drège, 124! Mrs. Patterson, 88 partly! 246! 713! 714! 723; Port Elizabeth Div.; near Port Elizabeth, Sim, 2668! Albany Div.; various localities, Bowker! Williamson! Galpin, 174! Mrs. Whyte, 1060! Fort Beaufort Div.; Adelaide, Hutton, 617! Queenstown Div.; Andriesberg Range, near Bailey, 5000 ft., Galpin, 2236! Eastern Frontier, MacOwan, 363!SOUTH AFRICA without locality, Thunberg!WESTERN REGION Great Namaqualand; between Ramans Drift and Warmbad, Pearson, 4204! 4435! Little Namaqualand; Kaus Mountains, Drège, 2945! Garies, Alston (fasciated growth)! (also probably, Great Karasberg Range, Pearson, 8073). Van Rhynsdorp Div.; Ebenezer, Drège, 2943! 8215! Karreeberg Range, Schlechter, 8311! Gift Berg, Phillips, 7391! Bokkeveld, Diels, 570! Var. β: Great Namaqualand; Great Karasberg Range, Pearson, 8279! 8345! 8346! south of Warmbad, Pearson, 4432! Little Namaqualand; various localities, Pearson, 3055! 3628! 3845! Alston in Herb. Marloth, 5103! Marloth, 4879!
Notes
This plant has a very wide range and varies somewhat in appearance, but I cannot find any distinctive characters in the dried specimens to separate more than the one variety. The leaf-scars are usually narrow and somewhat crescent-like, but sometimes (by a corky growth?) they enlarge into dark brown or blackish tubercles, producing the form known as E. melanosticta, E. Meyer. This form and the typical one, however, occur on the same plant. E. phymatoclada, Boiss., and E. Hydnoræ, E. Meyer, are both founded upon the same specimen, Drège, 2943.

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