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Euphorbia polycarpa
Euphorbia polycarpa (formerly Chamaesyce polycarpa) is a species of spurge known by the common name smallseed sandmat. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, especially the deserts and other dry, sandy areas. This is a perennial herb producing stems that trail along the ground to form a clump or mat, sometimes growing somewhat upright. The leaves are each under a centimeter long. They are round or oval-shaped and have triangular stipules at the bases.
What looks like a single flower is actually an inflorescence of many staminate (male) flowers united around a single central pistillate (female) flower. Bracts surrounding the flower unit are white and petal-like. The fruit is a thin spherical capsule less than 2 millimeters wide layered over a seed.
Among the Zuni people, a warm gruel made with the plant and white cornmeal and taken to promote milk flow.
Marble Canyon spurge · Abd Al Kuri Euphorbia · Euphorbia abdita · Euphorbia abdulghafooriana · Abram's Spurge · Desert Candle · Euphorbia acalyphoides · Greek Spiny Spurge · Euphorbia actinoclada · Pointed Sandmat · Euphorbia adenopoda · Miniature Saguaro
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Euphorbia polycarpa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
