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| Photo
by Renee Brecht |
Britton and Brown. See
credits below.** |
| Botanical name: |
Euphorbia ipecacuanhae L. |
| Common
name: |
wild ipecac |
| Synonomy: |
| Euphorbia arundelana Bartlett | | Tithymalopsis arundelana (Bartlett) Small | | Tithymalopsis ipecacuanhae (L.) Small |
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| Group: |
dicot |
| Family: |
Euphorbiaceae |
| Growth
Type: |
Forb/herb |
| Duration: |
Perennial |
| Origin: |
Native |
| Plant
height: |
5-10" |
| Foliage: |
leaves obovate, glabrous, green to purplish red |
| Flower
color: |
greenish, rather inconspicuous |
| Flowering/fruiting time |
late April to late May; fruit late May to July |
| Habitat: |
dry sandy ground of pinelands, woods, barrens |
| Range
in
New Jersey: |
from Middlesex and Mercer counties southward through the coastal plain |
| Heritage ranking if any: |
n/a |
| Distribution: |
 |
| Misc.: |
plants vary in color and in form.
According to Witmer
Stone in 1910, "This is another of the characteristic plants of the
Pine Barrens, delighting in the most arid stretches of white sand. Its
tufts of yellow blossoms, which appear before the foliage, and later
its rosettes of somewhat fleshy leaves, will be found to spring from a
cluster of slender stems, which unite as we dig downward until they
finally coalesce into one stout root. How far it descends I have never
been able to ascertain, though I have followed several for three feet
into the sand, at which point they showed no sign of diminishing in
thickness. Both leaves and stems are full of the milky juice
characteristic of the genus. The leaves vary greatly both in size and
color, some are linear and others broadly oval 5.5 x 3 cm, with all
possible intermediates, while all styles occur either green or deep
crimson. The variations are not correllated with any conditions of
environment, so far as one can see, extremes growing side by side in
perfectly uniform surroundings." (p 528)
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Sources
**Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. Vol. 2: 470. Courtesy of Kentucky Native Plant Society. Scanned by Omnitek Inc. Usage Requirements. |
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