Chamaesyce hirta (L.) Millsp.
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Euphorbiaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Erect to decumbent (sometimes prostrate) herb, to 30 cm tall, many-branched from a woody taproot; stems reddish, covered with two types of trichomes, these either whitish, minute, and curly or appressed, or long and erect with reddish or orange cross-walls. Leaf blades 5-40 x 3-15 mm , ovate to lanceolate, nearly coriaceous, the apex acute, acuminate, or obtuse, the base rounded or cuneate and oblique, the margins sharply serrate; petioles 1-2 mm long; stipules lacerate, minute. Cyathia densely clustered in axillary glomerules, cone-shaped; peduncles to 15 mm long; gland appendages rounded, minute, whitish. Pistillate flower exserted; ovary strigose. Capsule strigose, 3-lobed, ovoid, ca. 1 mm long. Seeds cuneiform, 0.7-0.9 mm long, light brown.
Distribution and Ecology - A common weed of open and disturbed areas. Lind Point (A1973), Maria Bluff (A3110). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda; a pantropical weed.
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Discussion
Euphorbia pilulifera L., Sp. PL 454. 1753. Euphorbia globulifera Kunth in Humb., Bonpl. & Kunth, Nov. Gen. Sp. 2: 56. 1817.
Common name: milkweed.