Chamaesyce hyssopifolia – Hyssopleaf Sandmat

Chamaesyce hyssopifolia - Hyssopleaf Sandmat, Hyssop Spurge

Chamaesyce hyssopifolia - Hyssopleaf Sandmat, Hyssop Spurge

Plant Name

Scientific Name: Chamaesyce hyssopifolia

Synonyms: Chamaesyce brasiliensis, Euphorbia hyssopifolia, E. brasiliensis

Common Names: Hyssopleaf Sandmat, Hyssop Spurge

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Annual, Perennial

Growth Habit: Herb/Forb

Arizona Native Status: Native

Habitat: Desert. This weed is most common in sandy desert washes and in agricultural areas.

Flower Color: Inconspicuous (white new flowers, pink old flowers)

Flowering Season: Summer

Height: From 4 inches (10 cm) to 4 feet (1.2 m) tall

Description: The flowers are tiny and have a dangling, 3-angled, green ovary and 4 petal-like lobes. The flower lobes open white and age to reddish pink color. The leaves have finely toothed margins and short petioles and are green, opposite, and elliptical in shape. There are 2, pale, fringed stipules at the base of the hairless leaf stalks.

The similar Graceful Sandmat (Chamaesyce hypericifolia) has longer, magenta leaf stipules.

Classification

Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Rosidae
Order: Euphorbiales
Family: Euphorbiaceae – Spurge family
Genus: Chamaesyce Gray – sandmat
Species: Chamaesyce hyssopifolia (L.) Small – hyssopleaf sandmat

More About This Plant

Arizona County Distribution Map