Volume 8 > Part 1 > Year 2005 > Page 268 > Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia

2. Euphorbia atoto G.Forst.wfo-0000960841

Fl. Ins. Austr.: 36. 1786; Boiss. in DC., Prodr. 15(2): 12. 1862; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 5: 248. 1887; Ridl., Fl. Malay Penins. 3: 181. 1924; Gagnep. in Lecomte, Fl. Indo-Chine 5: 245. 1925; M.R.Hend., Malay. Wild Fl.: 462. 1959; Backer & Bakh.f., Fl. Java 1: 503. 1964; Radcl.-Sm., Kew Bull. 26: 263. 1972; Whitmore, Tree Fl. Malaya 2: 96. 1973; P.H.Hô, Câyco Viêtnam 2, 1: 359, pl. 4566. 1992; J.S.Ma, Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 44(3): 36, fig. 1–3, pl. 6. 1997; Esser & Chayamarit, Harvard Papers Bot. 6: 261. 2001.— Chamaesyce atoto (G.Forst.) Croiz. In O.Degener, Fl. Hawajiensis, Fam. 190, Chamaesyce leafl.: 4. 1936; Florence, Bull. Mus. Nation. Hist. Nat., B, Adansonia 18: 240. 1996.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Perennial herb to subshrub with a woody prostrate base and numerous ascending to erect, herbaceous stems, up to 60 cm high, shoots often distinctly articulate and fragile, slightly branched, green to slightly reddish. Completely glabrous. Stipules completely united, triangular, 1–1.5 by 1–1.5 mm. Leaves: petioles 1.5–2.5 mm long; opposite, distant; interpetiolar blades ovate-oblong-elliptic, the largest 17–40 by 9–15 mm and quite uniform in size, fleshy-succulent, base oblique with one side cordate, the other obtuse, margin entire, apex rounded-obtuse and sometimes with a minute mucro, brighter but not whitish beneath, venation very indistinct to invisible, triplinerved, with 6–9 pairs of side veins. Cyathia grouped to 3–12 in loosely to distinctly clustered, axillary dichasia ca 6–20 mm long, sometimes solitary, pedunculate and subtended by pairs of leafy to linear bracts 4–9 mm long. Involucre 1–1.2 mm long; glands 5 or 4 but sometimes partly absent, 0.5–0.7 mm wide, light green when flowering, reddish-purple in fruit, sometimes shortly stalked, with a minute to absent, pale rim as appendage; ovary with stigmas of 0.6–0.7 mm, apically bifid for less or more than half of their length. Fruits with a pedicel of 2–3 mm, pendent when maturing, erect when mature; schizocarp 2–2.2 by 2.2–3 mm, sulcate. Seeds 1.4–1.5 by 1.1–1.2 mm but often rudimentary to aborted, brown and sometimes with a whitish coating, completely smooth, ecarunculate.

Thailand : SOUTH-WESTERN: Prachuap Khiri Khan (Hua Hin, Huai Yang); SOUTH EASTERN: Chon Buri (Chomthian, Sattahip, Si Racha), Rayong (Ko Samet), Trat (Ko Chang); PENINSULAR: Chumphon (Ko Tao), Phangnga (Ko Bon), Phuket (Airport Beach, Hat Nai Yang, Laem La, Thalang, Thachuai), Satun (Adang Island), Songkhla.

Distribution : From Sri Lanka and India through Burma, Indochina, China up to the Ryukyus of Japan, Malesia, Australia to the S Pacific (type from Polynesia).

Ecology : On sandy beaches and dunes at the seashore, in Casuarina forests, often common, near sea level. Flowering and fruiting: the whole year through.

Vernacular : Ma phrao nok khao (มะพร้าวนกเขา)(Prachuap Khiri Khan); nam nom ratchasi thale (น้ำนมราชสีห์ทะเล)(Chumphon).

Notes: This name is well-known, but perhaps must be replaced by the name of Euphorbia pallens Dillwyn, according to current research (see Esser & Chayamarit, 2001).