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 Flower and fruit Frankie Coburn @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) |  Leaves Patrick Alexander @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) |  Plant Max Licher @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) | | | |
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Origin:
Native
Life Cycle:
Perennial
General Desc:
This is a mat-forming reddish-green plant with a crooked, creeping, hairless stem. It spreads to 16 inches wide with many creeping stems from a single taproot. Flowers are tiny. Leaves are lance-shaped. Sap contains a latex skin irritant.
Identification notes: Plants are without hairs. Seed capsules are over 2mm long. Stipules are not united. Leaves are opposite, somewhat asymmetric at their base and have smooth leaf margins.
Height:
1 to 1-1/2 inches
Habitat Description: Dry scrub and woodland habitat in desert and plateau regions.
Plant Communities:
Interior Chaparral, Semidesert Grasslands, Pinyon Juniper Woodland, Disturbed Areas
Elevation: 3500 - 7500 feet
Color:
White
Shape:
Regular in round clusters
Tubular:
N
Flowering Period:
May - Oct
Description:
The tiny blooms are cup-shaped with white-edged, scalloped appendages surrounding a ring of 25 to 35 staminate flowers around one pistillate flower.
Leaf Color:
Green
Leaf Type:
Simple
Leaf Shape:
Round or oval
Leaf Margin:
Smooth
Leaf Attachment:
Opposite
Leaves Clasp:
N
Hairs:
No
Spines:
N
Leaf Description:
The leaves are rounded, oval, or spade-shaped, smooth along the edges and generally coming to a point, and not much more than 3/10 inch in maximum length.
Fruit Color: Green
Fruit Type: Capsule
Fruit Notes: The ovary of the pistillate flower enlarges into a lobed fruit about less than 1 inch long which contains tiny seeds.
Seed Notes: Seeds are tiny, less than 1/10 inch in size, ovoid, smooth to slightly wrinkled, and white.
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