Family |
Euphorbiaceae
Euphorbia phymatosperma
Boiss.
Euphorbia phymatosperma Boiss. & Gaill.
(First published in Diagn. Pl. Orient., ser. 2, 4: 83 (1859); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, Pl. CCV nº 5; 1970) (ipni.org)
• Life-form & habit : Small annual herb, glabrous; stem erect, simple, 10–15 cm tall.
• Leaves : Leaves sessile, obovate, obtuse and entire; leaves at the base of the umbel larger. Floral leaves ovate-rhomboidal.
• Inflorescence & flowers : Umbel with 2–3 rays, shortly bifid; cyathia small, campanulate, with very obtuse lobes; glands oblong.
• Fruit : Capsule ovate, with non-carinate cocci; seeds ovate, subquadrangular, greyish, finely roughened, each face also marked by three large, regular, dark pits.
• Phenology : Flowers from March to May.
• Habitat & elevation : Cultivated ground and waste places.
• Lebanese distribution : Recorded by Mouterde from Bikfaya, Jabal Kneissé and Ouadi-el-Harir in the Anti-Lebanon.
• Native range : Albania, Algeria, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Lebanon-Syria, Morocco, Palestine, Türkiye.
• Diagnostic remarks : Recognizable among the small annual Euphorbia species of Lebanon and Syria by its glabrous, simple, short erect stem, sessile obovate entire leaves, 2–3-rayed umbel, small campanulate cyathia with oblong glands, ovate non-carinate capsule, and especially the distinctive greyish subquadrangular seeds, finely roughened and marked on every face by three large dark pits. POWO accepts Euphorbia phymatosperma Boiss. & Gaill. and gives its broader native range as “Medit. to W. Iran.” (powo.science.kew.org)