White-Margined Sandmat, White-Margined Spurge, Rattlesnake Weed

Eurphorbia albomarginata Torr. and A. Gray

[also lised as Chamaescyce albomarginata (Torr. and A. Gray) Small]

Spurge Family (Euphorbiaceae)

▲▼ seedlings

▲▼ mature plants

▲ leaf and stem detail

▲▼ flower and fruit detail

White-Margined Sandmat: 

·         Has small, oval, medium-green leaves with pointed tips and no teeth or purple spots or hairs to distinguish it from Prostrate Spurge, Spotted Spurge, Spreading Sandmat and Mat Spurge

·         Stems are green to pinkish red and do not root at the nodes; no hairs on stems

·         Cyathia (flowers) are small (about 1/8 inch diameter or smaller) and have white-petal-like appendages that are visible and somewhat showy

·         Capsule is smooth, with long, deeply-divided stigma lobes and cyathia are not split open much at fruiting; similar Creeping Spurge has shorter stigma lobes and more rounded leaf tips, and is more common midwest than white-margined spurge, which is more  common in southwestern U.S., and is found only in the very southwestern midwest states