Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Fabids: Malpighiales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Euphorbia mercurialina
FAMILY
Euphorbiaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Read more about Cumberland Spurge at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Euphorbia mercurialina
FAMILY
Euphorbiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 12 (2016)
Euphorbia mercurialina
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Tithymalopsis mercurialina
COMMON NAME:
Cumberland Spurge, Mercury Spurge
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_e_mercurialina
March
)
Ed Pivorun ebp090404_4972
April Walker County GA
Pigeon Mountain
Leaves of branches whorled or opposite, with fine hairs on margins, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).
)
Ed Pivorun ebp090404_4972b
April Walker County GA
Pigeon Mountain
Several staminate flowers with yellow anthers & solitary pistillate flower, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).
)
JK Marlow jkm090404_114
April Walker County GA
Pigeon Mountain
"Flowers" have a ring of 5 white-margined green "petals" (appendages), per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).
)
JK Marlow jkm090404_201
April Walker County GA
Pigeon Mountain
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Euphorbia mercurialina
FAMILY
Euphorbiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Euphorbia mercurialina
FAMILY
Euphorbiaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 12
Euphorbia mercurialina
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Tithymalopsis mercurialina
2917
Forb
Perennial
Monoecious
Habitat: Rich moist to dry forests over mafic or calcareous rocks, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common in GA Mountains (rare elsewhere in GA-NC-SC)
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
DOES THE PLANT HAVE "MILKY SAP"?
Has milky sap (latex)
LEAVES:
Simple
FLOWER:
Spring/Summer
Petaloid appendages of glands green with white margins
Cyathium with 5 glands
Unisexual
FRUIT:
Capsule
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p181
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p159
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p196
If a search such as "Carex leptalea var. leptalea" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "Carex leptalea".
Or, to minimize chances of a misspelling, try just "Carex le".
Less is more: If "pencil flower" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "pencil".