Chamaesyce polycarpa (Benth.) Millsp. =Euphorbia polycarpa var. polycarpa Euphorbiaceae (Spurge Family) Native Golondrina

                                            July Photo

Plant Characteristics:  Mostly glabrous, prostrate or ascending perennial from slender taproot, the stems 5-25 cm. long; lvs. almost round to oblong, 2-8 mm. long, entire; stipules lanceolate, mostly ciliate, those on ventral side of stem united; invols. solitary at nodes, campanulate, 1-1.5 mm. wide; glands transversely oblong, maroon, 0.5-0.7 mm. long, the appendages broader than the glands;  male fls. 15-32; caps. glabrous, rounded, sharply 3-angled, 1.1-1.3 mm. in diam.; seeds rather sharply quadrangular, whitish, 1-1.3 mm. long, the facets smoothish.

Habitat:  Dry slopes and washes, below 3000 ft.; Coastal Sage Scrub, Chaparral; Ventura Co. to San Diego; Creosote Bush Scrub; Mojave and Colo. deserts; to Nev., Ariz., Son., L. Calif.  Blooms most of the year.

Name:  Euphorbus, a physician of Numidia.  (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 409).  Greek, polys, many and karpos, fruit.  (Jaeger 47, 204). 

General:  Rare in the study area, having been found only once and this on Northstar beach. (my comment).     The early Spanish apparently called all species of Euphorbia, Golondrina, which means "swallow".  They all are reputed to be an antidote for rattlesnake bite when the leaves are pounded and bound wet on the wound.  (Dale 107).    Most species of Euphorbia are poisonous. (Spellenberg 485).     There are 18 species of Euphorbia recorded in Calif. (Robbins et al. 282).     A highly diversified genus of over 1000 species, mostly temperate, many cactus-like or otherwise highly modified in habit.  (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 409).      Roberts in his 1998 A Checklist of the Vascular Plants of Orange County, California lists only C. polycarpa var. polycarpa.  Roberts does  not describe the plants in his book so there is no way to tell the difference between C. polycarpa and C. polycarpa var. polycarpa.

Text Ref:  Jepson 600;  Hickman, Ed. 571; Munz, Calif. Flora 170; Munz, Flora So. Calif. 414; Roberts 22.

Photo Ref:  July 1 86 # 16,17,18.

Identity: by R. De Ruff, confirmed by F. Roberts.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 92.

Have plant specimen.

Last edit 12/26/02.

                                              July Photo