土库曼大戟 tu ku man da ji

Euphorbia turcomanica Boissier.

Herbs, ephemeral, 6-13 cm tall; indumentum with very short stiff erect hairs. Root fibrous, 0.5-3 mm thick. Stems usually unbranched, occasionally branched at end, usually woody at base, many from base, ascending or prostrate, 2-3 mm thick, internodes conspicuous, glabrous or pilose. Leaves opposite; stipules persistent; petiole extremely short; leaf blade subelliptic, 3-6 × 2-4 mm, glabrous on both surfaces or subglabrous, base extremely obliquely auriculate, margin entire or serrulate, apex rounded. Cyathia single, axillary, peduncle almost absent; involucre turbinate, ca. 1.5 × 1.5-2 mm, white pilose, marginal lobes 5, very small, subtruncate; glands 4, appendages white and unequal, narrow adaxially, but wider than glands abaxially, ca. 2-4 × as wide as gland, irregular, concave or repand. Male flowers many, usually not exserted. Female flower: pedicel long, exserted from involucre; ovary pilose or not; styles very short; stigma ± 2-lobed. Capsule 3-angular, ca. 1.5 × 1-1.5 mm, smooth, sometimes pilose. Seeds tetragonal, ca. 1.5 × 1 mm, gray, adaxially grooved; caruncle absent. Fl. and fr. Jun-Sep.

Sandy or stony fields; ca. 500 m. Xinjiang (Kuytun to Jinghe) [Afghanistan, N India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; Africa, SW and W Asia (Iran, Iraq)].

This is the only species in the subgenus in NW China and can be identified easily by its white appendages and distinctive indumentum.