Chiricahua Mountain Sandmat
Chamaesyce florida
This specimen was found blooming in Rackensack Canyon, Maricopa County, Arizona, USA on 03 Aug. 2008. A full resolution scan image has been contributed to Wikimedia Commons.
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RANGE: Found on rocky slopes and along washes in canyons from central Arizona
through southeastern Arizona. In the Sonoran Desert mostly at the upper
elevations above 900 m.
ANNUAL: Upright herbaceous annual appearing with warm weather depending
on available moisture. Generally less than 50 cm.
LEAVES: The leaves are linear and are opposite on the stems. Checking the leaves with good magnification will reveal minute teeth along the margins.
FLOWERS: What at first appears to be a lovely little flower barely a
4 mm in diameter is actually an involucre enclosing a number of male
staminate flowers and one pistillate female flower. The surrounding glands and
the white/pink lobed appendages form the rim of the vase-shaped involucre.
FRUIT: Capsules are relatively large and are smooth, without hairs, ca.
2 mm.
UNARMED: No thorns, but the milky sap can be a skin/eye irritant.