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General: Fendler's Sandmat (Chamaesyce fendleri) is a perennial, mat-forming forb that grows as a low mound. The leaves are paired and oblong with a pointed tip. Cyathia ("flowers") emerge from leaf nodes, 1 cyathia per node. Bracts emerging from beneath the cyathia have light, notched margins, giving the appearance of pale, short flower petals. Fruit grows on a stalk from the center of the cyathia. Fruit without hairs, 2–2.5 mm long.
Fendler's Sandmat is a fairly common component of vegetation communities in dry, well-drained gravelly areas on bajadas into the lower mountains in the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub and Pinyon-Juniper Woodland), Transition (Yellow Pine Forest), and Canadian (Pine-Fir Forest) life zones.
Around Las Vegas, look for Fendler's Sandmat up on Mt. Charleston and in the other mountains around town.
Family: Spurge (Euphorbiaceae), Chamaesyce chaetocalyx, Euphorbia albomarginata. |