Euphorbia ophthalmica Persoon (1806: 13)

Hassemer, Gustavo, Silva, Otávio Luis Marques Da, Funez, Luís Adriano, Ernst, Madeleine, Cordeiro, Inês & Rønsted, Nina, 2017, Updates on the genus Euphorbia (Euphorbiaceae) in Santa Catarina, Brazil, Phytotaxa 298 (3), pp. 222-238 : 234

Euphorbia ophthalmica Persoon (1806: 13)

Type: — BRAZIL. Rio de Janeiro: July 1767, P. Commerson 238 (holotype P-00678898!; isotype P-00716314!) .

Photographs: — Fig. 4 D–E in Silva et al. (2014).

Distribution and habitat: — Euphorbia ophthalmica is a worldwide tropical and subtropical weed ( Silva et al. 2014) that grows on disturbed environments. In SC this species has been collected in the municipality of Xanxerê ( Fig. 3 ), and it has also been observed in Florianópolis during field work.

Conservation status: —Least Concern (LC).

Notes: —This is the first record of the occurrence of E. ophthalmica in SC. The species is usually misidentified as E. hirta Linnaeus (1753: 454) , because both species share the feature of having the cyathia arranged in glomerule-like (capitate) dichasia. However, these dichasia are restricted to distal nodes in E. ophthalmica , while they occur at all nodes in E. hirta .

Material examined: — BRAZIL. Santa Catarina: Xanxerê, Centro, terreno alagadiço, 17 December 2011, L. A. Funez 186 (FURB-37600).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Distribution map of Euphorbia cyathophora (yellow stars), E. graminea (green diamond), E. ophthalmica (blue triangle) and E. thymifolia (red dots) in Santa Catarina.

FIGURE 4. Image of the lectotype of Euphorbia hirtella (F. Sello 1092, G-00405796). Published with permission of the Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève.