Texas toothleaf Texas toothleaf

Sapium sylvaticum (Linnaeus) Torrey var. linearifolium Torrey in W. H. Emory, Rep. U. S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 201. 1859 (as linearifolia), not Stillingia linearifolia S. Watson 1879; Stillingia sylvatica Linnaeus var. linearifolia (Torrey) Müller Arg.

Herbs or subshrubs, perennial, with woody caudex. Stems solitary or fascicled, erect, mostly unbranched, 1.5–4.5(–6) dm. Leaves alternate; stipules linear-lanceolate, to 1 mm; petiole absent; blade linear to linear-lanceolate, (1–)3–6(–7) × 0.3–0.6(–1) cm, base cuneate to obtuse, margins crenate-dentate, teeth with prominent blackened tips, not incurved, apex acute; midvein prominent, especially proximally, secondary veins obscure. Inflorescences sessile, 3–9 cm; staminate cymules crowded, 3–5-flowered; pistillate flowers 3–4, crowded; bracts broadly deltate, to 1 mm, apex acute, glands patelliform, sessile, 2 mm diam. Staminate flowers: calyx 1 mm. Pistillate flowers: sepals persistent, 3, well developed, elliptic; styles connate 3/4 length, to 4 mm. Capsules globose, 6–8 mm diam., shallowly 3-lobed; lobes of gynobase 2–3 mm; columella often persistent. Seeds gray, ellipsoid, 5 × 5 mm, smooth; caruncle white, broadly crescent-shaped, 1 × 1.3–1.5 mm.

Flowering late Apr–May(–Jul); fruiting Jun–Sep. Calcareous prairies, open uplands; 200–1500 m; Okla., Tex.; Mexico (Coahuila).

Stillingia texana is widespread in central Texas, extending north to scattered locations in central Oklahoma.