Euphorbia

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Dot Lang's Flower Notes for east Wise County, Texas
Dicot Class
Euphorbia ~ Spurge Family
Work in Progress ~ larger pictures may not be available yet.
|White | red/pink | Green/Yellow / Orange |

Cnidoscolus texanus	Bull Nettle	Spring, Summer
		Stinging hairs. A real DONT TOUCH. I've never experienced touching one of these and don't plan to. Just observing one is enough to tell you not to touch. However, I've read that the seeds are quite tasty.

*Euphorbia Bicolor ²*	Snow-On-The-Prairie	Summer, Fall
	. Close-up of flower	Seeing these start to bloom in August brings a smile to my face. A 2 to 4 ft tall plant with one major stem and flowering branches from it, remind you that it's suited for prairies. A field of these in bloom is spectacular. They do have a white milky sap that can be an irritant to skin. Their close relative is Snow-on-the-Mountain, also a Texas native and similar in appearance.. Just note that it is the leaves that are the spectacular part of this plant with their edges white and center of leaves, green. The actual flowers are seen in the first photos and grow at the axles of the branches. About the white-edged leaves: When this plant (an annual) sprouts, the leaves are a dark gray/green and oval in shape and very soft to the touch due to the short hairs on the leaves. They stay this color until bloom time. As the plant readies to flower, then new leaves start to take on the white edging and are more lanceolate. The old green leaves eventually turn yellow and fall off the plant, leaving just the white edged leaves thru the fall. Stem of plant is quite woody, turns a reddish color as it ages. If you don't want these, just pull them out of the ground before they get to the seed stage. Might want to use gloves and long sleeves if you're sensitive to the white sap.
Close-up of flower	Young, before new leaves appear with white edging

Some aging leaves turning pink, along with almost mature seedpods. Fall, October..	Seeds and seedpod. The "4" is a centimeter mark. Seeds "spring" out when pod is ripe.

*Euphorbia missurica¹⁰ aka Chamaesyce missurica⁷*	Prairie spurge		plant noticed Sept 2 2017
		Airy looking plant, 2 feet tall, tiny white flowers, leaves far apart & in pairs (opposite) on branching stems. Ed note: Watching for seed pods.

*Euphorbia dentata ^{7, 8}*	Toothed Spurge	Annual
	Close up of seed capsules and flowers.	Some leaves may have dark purple spots; the base of some leaves may even turn red, similar to the Poinsettia, which it is related to, though I have yet to find any in my fields. It is a weed.
Leaf petiole and axil

Croton

Green/Yellow/Orange
Tragia ramosa ^{7, 10,}	Noseburn,
		stinging hairs on stems and leaves, grows about 1 ft. tall. DON'T touch. (my skin is not happy with these). Weedy. spring to fall. Also trails.

Stillingia texana ⁷	² Texas Queens Delight	spring, summer	perennial

	Showing seedpod developing at base of floret and the flat pads	Seed pods	"Gone to seed" Plant stems have turned reddish color, leaves have darkened.

Euphorbia spathulata Lam. ⁷	Warty Euphorbia	late winter, spring
		Fruit is bumpy. Interesting plant to have around in the garden.

Euphorbia longicruris Scheele⁷	Wedgeleaf Euphorbia	late winter, spring
		Fruit is smooth
		leaves clasp close at night.

Acalypha ostryifolia⁷	Hop-Hornbeam Copperleaf	Annual
		Weed but nice form., clear sap, miniscule pistillate flower encased in lobed bracts ; and staminate flowers in leaf axils. 3 seeded.
showing staminate floral column from leaf axil. with pistalate flowers in lobed bracts.	showing seedpods in fancy lobed bracts

As ID'd from:

¹ Wild Flowers of Texas book by Geyata Ajilvsgi,
²Lady Bird Johnson WildFlower Center website,
³Kansas State Wildflowers website.
⁴100 Texas Wildflowers by Dorothy Baird Mattiza for the Native Plant Society of Texas, 1993
⁵ Native Plant Society of Texas
⁷ Shiner & Mahler's Illustrated Flora of North Central Texas by Diggs, Lipscomb & O'Kennon, 1999
⁸ Google searches used to help verify and find more info
⁹ USDA website Plant Database

Wildflower Bibliography & Link page