Prostrate Spurge
Small-seed Sandmat
Chamaesyce polycarpa
This photo was taken in Phoenix, July 2007. A full resolution image is hosted at Wikimedia. The ruler is scaled in millimeters.
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ANNUAL/PERENNIAL: It grows mostly prostrate on the ground with a few
stems rising up to 10 cm. This herbaceous plant usu. blooms the first year and
may survive several.
LEAVES: The leaves are strictly opposite on the stems. Notice that the
leaf bases are strongly unequal and that the margins are entire.
RANGE: Common on rocky slopes, desert washes and in vacant city lots
throughout the Sonoran Desert of Arizona and ranging into adjacent states.
FLOWERS: Minute flowers borne in groups within an a minute
involucre. What appears to be petals are actually petal-like glands borne on the rim of
the involucre. Populations with slightly larger, more showy inflorescences are
common. These plants bloom nearly year round.
UNARMED: No thorns, but the milky sap can be a skin or eye irritant.
FRUIT: Very small capsules, ca. 1 mm, are three-parted and each contains
usu. three seeds. These seeds inside require high magnification to see their
smooth surface.