Flora-Fauna

Euphorbia helioscopia L.

(First published in Sp. Pl.: 459 (1753); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, Pl. CCVI nº 2; 1970)

• Life-form & habit : Annual herb, glabrescent, 10–50 cm tall; stems branched from the base or higher up, the lateral stems prostrate-ascending, eventually leafless toward the base.

• Leaves : Leaves glabrous, obovate-triangular to spatulate, obtuse, 1–3 cm long, denticulate, attenuate into a short petiole. Floral leaves elliptic to rounded, 1–2 cm long.

• Inflorescence & flowers : Umbels with 5 rays, first trifid then bifid, spread in a nearly horizontal plane; cyathium turbinate, with oblong fimbriate lobes; glands transversely elliptic.

• Fruit : Capsule glabrous and smooth, with cocci deeply separated by furrows, about 3 mm in diameter; seed ovoid, acute at the apex, reticulate with narrow raised ridges; caruncle almost vertical.

• Phenology : Flowers from February to July.

• Habitat & elevation : Waste ground, cultivated fields and roadsides; in Lebanon recorded from the coastal belt, lower mountain belt and ‘Akkar plain.

• Lebanese distribution : Recorded by Mouterde from Saïda, Beyrouth, Tripoli, ‘Aïnab, Harissa, Chemlan and the plain of ‘Akkar.

• Native range : Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Altay, Austria, Azores, Baleares, Baltic States, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canary Is., Central European Russia, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Corse, Cyprus, Czechia-Slovakia, East Aegean Is., East European Russia, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Gulf States, Hainan, Hungary, India, Inner Mongolia, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Korea, Kriti, Krym, Lebanon-Syria, Libya, Madeira, Manchuria, Morocco, Nansei-shoto, Netherlands, North Caucasus, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Qinghai, Romania, Sardegna, Saudi Arabia, Sicilia, Sinai, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tadzhikistan, Taiwan, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Türkiye, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, West Himalaya, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Yemen.

• Introduced range : Alabama, Alberta, Argentina Northeast, British Columbia, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Falkland Is., Georgia, Great Britain, Idaho, Illinois, Ireland, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Brunswick, New Caledonia, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Newfoundland, North Carolina, Nova Scotia, Ohio, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Prince Edward I., Québec, Saskatchewan, South Carolina, St.Helena, Tasmania, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

• Diagnostic remarks : Readily recognized by its glabrescent annual habit, obovate-triangular to spatulate denticulate leaves, and characteristic flat, five-rayed umbel that gives the plant its “sun spurge” aspect. It differs from Euphorbia haussknechtii, treated by Mouterde immediately after it, by its broader, flatter, more plane umbels and less strongly serrate leaves; E. haussknechtii has smaller, more spatulate, strongly serrate cauline leaves, less broad and less plane umbels, and little or no visible caruncle.