Prostrate Spurge
Euphorbia prostrata
Chamaesyce prostrata
Growing as a weed in a Bermuda grass lawn. Phoenix, Maricopa Co., Arizona. August 2016.
ANNUAL: This weedy spurge grows from seed with the arrival of hot
weather flourishing through the hottest months in direct sun. It grows along the ground or
from pavement cracks often rooting at the nodes and thus reproducing vegetatively. Stems
may spread out up to 30 cm.
LEAVES: The leaves are opposite on the stems and the margins are minutely
toothed.
RANGE: Common on disturbed soil, in gardens and lawns throughout the Arizona Sonoran
Desert and ranging through the tropics and subtropics.
FLOWERS: Minute flowers, usually one pistilate and several staminate, borne in
groups within an a minute involucre. Petal-like, white, appendages are very small or
absent.
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 usually
three seeds.