土瓜狼毒 tu gua lang du

Euphorbia nepalensis Boissier; E. pinus H. Léveillé.

Herbs, erect or ascending, 20-30 cm tall. Root terete, 10-20 × 0.5-2 cm, few branched. Stem many branched basally, ca. 3 mm thick. Leaves alternate; stipules absent; petiole absent; leaf blade linear-rounded, 2-4 cm × 3-5 mm, base attenuate or subtruncate, apex obtuse; lateral veins basal, inconspicuous. Primary involucral leaves 4-6, ovate-oblong to broadly ovate-oblong, 1.5-2.5 × 0.6-1.2 cm, apex rounded or acute; cyathophylls 2, ovate, 1-1.5 × 0.8-1 cm, base rounded or subtruncate, apex acute or rounded. Cyathium sessile; involucre broadly campanulate, ca. 3.5 × 3-5(-7) mm, lobes lacerate or triangular, some pilose on margin and inside; glands 4(-8), brown, subcrescent, apex 2-horned. Male flowers many, slightly exserted from involucre. Female flower: ovary pedicel up to 5 mm; styles connate below middle; style arms slightly 2-lobed. Fruiting peduncle to 8 mm; capsule ovoid-globose, ca. 4.5 × 5.5 mm. Seeds ovoid-globose, 2.5-3 × 2-2.5 mm, yellow-brown, smooth but with spot modification; caruncle present, small, pale yellow, easily lost. Fl. and fr. Apr-Aug.

Valleys, sloping grasslands, Pinus forests; 500-2300 m. Guizhou (Puding), Sichuan, Yunnan [N India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand].