Flora-Fauna

Euphorbia erubescens Boiss.

(First published in Diagn. Pl. Orient. 7: 90 (1846); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, Pl. CCXII nº 2; 1970, as Euphorbia macrostegia Boiss.) (Plants of the World Online)

• Life-form & habit : Perennial subshrub, often several-stemmed; stems reddish, woody toward the base, 60–80 cm tall.

• Leaves : Leaves coriaceous, ovate-oblong, attenuate at the base and obtuse at the apex; upper surface shining, lower surface paler and sometimes pubescent.

• Inflorescence & flowers : Inflorescence often thyrsoid; lower bracts free and ovate; floral leaves and dichotomy leaves connate for more than half their length into flat discs, up to 4 cm in diameter; cyathium tomentose inside, with strongly ciliate ovate lobes; glands with short divergent horns.

• Fruit : Capsule ovate, puberulent or glabrous, strongly furrowed; seed ovoid, lead-grey; caruncle conical-depressed.

• Phenology : Flowers from March to June.

• Habitat & elevation : Woodlands, especially in the middle mountain belt.

• Lebanese distribution : Recorded by Mouterde from the forest of Ehden. A historical syntype specimen labelled Euphorbia erubescens was collected in Lebanon above Tripoli, near Ehden, by Kotschy in July 1855. (science.mnhn.fr)

• Native range : Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, Türkiye.

• Diagnostic remarks : Mouterde treated the plant under Euphorbia macrostegia Boiss., but POWO currently accepts Euphorbia erubescens Boiss. and includes E. macrostegia among its synonyms. It is characterized by reddish woody-based stems, coriaceous shining ovate-oblong leaves, large connate floral leaves forming flat discs, cyathia tomentose inside, short-horned glands, and strongly furrowed ovate capsules. (Plants of the World Online)