Abrams’ sandmat Abrams’ sandmat

Chamaesyce abramsiana (L. C. Wheeler) Koutnik

Herbs, annual, with slender taproot. Stems prostrate, mat-forming, 10–35(–50) cm, shortly pilose or puberulent at least proximally, often glabrous distally. Leaves opposite; stipules distinct, divided into 5–7 subulate-filiform segments, 0.6–1.1 mm, usually glabrous, rarely pilose; petiole 0.5–1 mm, glabrous; blade ovate, elliptic-oblong, or slightly ovate-cordate, 3–11 × 2–5 mm, base asymmetric, truncate to hemicordate, margins serrulate at least toward apex, often entire toward base, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces sometimes with red spot in center, glabrous; usually only the midvein conspicuous. Cyathia solitary at distal nodes of primary stems or at nodes of short congested axillary branchlets; peduncle 0.2–0.5 mm. Involucre obconic, 0.5–0.6 × 0.4–0.5 mm, glabrous; glands 4, yellowish to pink, circular to oblong, 0.1 × 0.1–0.2 mm; appendages absent, or white to pink, semicircular to broadly ovate, to 0.1 × 0.2 mm, distal margin entire or shallowly lobed. Staminate flowers 3–5. Pistillate flowers: ovary glabrous; styles 0.1–0.3 mm, 2-fid nearly entire length. Capsules ellipsoid to ovoid, 1.3–1.5 × 1.1–1.5 mm, glabrous; columella 1–1.3 mm. Seeds light gray to light brown, narrowly ovoid to ovoid, 4-angled in cross section, 1–1.2 × 0.6–0.7 mm, with 3–5 prominent transverse ridges that often interrupt abaxial keel.

Flowering and fruiting summer–fall. Desert scrub and desert grasslands; -40–1400 m; Ariz., Calif., N.Mex., Tex.; Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora).