Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Account for Curtis's Spurge - Euphorbia curtisii   Engelmann ex Chapman
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Section 6 » Order Euphorbiales » Family Euphorbiaceae
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AuthorEngelmann ex Chapman
DistributionSoutheastern Piedmont, Sandhills, and southern Coastal Plain. Ranges north to Montgomery, Moore, and Harnett counties.

Mostly Coastal Plain, NC to northern FL.
AbundanceCommon in the Sandhills, and fairly common to locally common southeast to the southern coast. Rare in the adjacent southern Piedmont.
HabitatDry to xeric Longleaf Pine-Wiregrass uplands, sandhills, and drier savannas and flatwoods; granitic outcrops (Anson County); "river bottomland woodland near Rocky River" (Union County).
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting March-June.
IdentificationCurtis's Spurge is a delicate green plant less than 1.5 feet tall, with widely to moderately branched upper half, these short-branched and bearing small inflorescences. Leaves are linear to narrowly lance-shape and tapered to both ends. Floral glands (resembling petals) are short and white, yet conspicuous. E. exserta is very similar in size and shape, but is overall a grayish green color, and the floral glands are maroon or red-purple. Curtis's Spurge is frequently seen in sandy pinelands, especially in the Sandhills, and though a "wispy" plant with very narrow leaves and slender stem and branches, is noticeable to an observer in sandy barrens as long as there aren't taller plant to distract attention!
Taxonomic CommentsNone.

Other Common Name(s)White Sandhills-spurge
State RankS3S4 [S4]
Global RankG4
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photographercommentsphoto_linkcountyobsType
B.A. SorrieSame area, May 2008. RichmondPhoto_natural
B.A. SorrieSandhills Game Land, xeric longleaf-wiregrass, July 2009, RichmondPhoto_natural
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