Euphorbia heterophylla var. cyathophora

Euphorbia heterophylla var. cyathophora (Murray) Griseb., Fl. Brit. W. 1: 45. 1859; E. heterophylla f. cyathophora (Murray) Voss, Vilm. Blumengarten., ed. 3.1: 898. 1895; E. cyathophora Murray, Comment. Soc. Regiae Sci. Gott. 7: 81. 1786; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 11: 298; Fl. North Amer. @ eFloras.org vol. 12; Radcliffe- Smith, Fl. Pak @ eFloras.org p. 113; Poinsettia cyathophora ( Murray) Klotzsch & Garcke, Mon. Konigl. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin 253. 1859.

Annual herb or shrub with milky latex, up to 1 m tall. Stem glabrous or sparingly pubescent, hollow. Leaves alternate; petioles 0.5-1.5 cm, sparsely pilose; leaf blades variable: those of lowest leaves ovate, the middle leaves panduriform (with 4 lateral lobes in 2 pairs with a deep constriction between them), and of the upper leaves panduriform or elliptic-lanceolate, 3-13 cm x 0.6-6.5 cm, apex acute, lobes acute to obtuse, base cuneate and attenuated int petiole, margin entire or irregularly denticulate; lateral nerves 10-17 on each side of midvein, glabrous above, sparingly pilose beneath. Stipules minute, caducous or absent. Inflorescence a terminal cyme forking ca. 4 times, cyathia densely clustered, 12-15 or more in number, subtended by few bracts similar to leaves but with a bright orange-red blotch at base, upper bracts progressively smaller, more lanceolate, subsessile, entirely red or orange-red. Cyathia ca. 3.5 mm x 3 mm, shortly pedunculate, peduncle ca. 5 mm long; involucre campanulate, glabrous, 5-lobed, lobes ca. 1.5 mm x 1.5 mm, rounded, apex deeply and bluntly 3-5 toothed/ lobed, gland 1, yellowish-green, funnelform, sessile to substipitate, opening transversely elliptic without any annular rim, ca. 2 mm wide. Flowers pedicellate, unisexual. Male Flowers: Many, 20-30, shortly exserted from involucre. Each male flower reduced to single stamen subtended by ligulate hairy bract/bracteoles; pedicel up to 5 mm long, articulated with filament. Stamens 3-4 mm long; anthers ca. 1.5 mm long and broad, broadly ovoid, bithecous, basifixed; filament +/- equal to anther. Female Flowers: Pedicellate, solitary in centre of cyathium, reduced to a single ovary. Ovary glabrous, superior, 3-locular, one ovule per loculus, placentation axile; styles 3, erect, ca. 2 mm long, bifid almost to base. Fruiting pedicel up to 5.5 mm long, reflexed. Capsule green, globose, depressed, roundly deeply 3-lobed, 3-4 mm x 4-5 mm, smooth, glabrous. Seeds 3, ovoid-conical, 2.5-3 mm x 2.5-3 mm, seed coat tuberculate, blackish brown, ecarunculate.

Flowering and Fruiting: February to November
Common Names: : Painted Leaf Poinsettia, Summer Poinsettia, Mexican Fire Plant, Painted Leaf Spurge, Titli Phool