Spotted Sandmat

Herbs, annual, 10-17 cm tall. Root fibrous, ca. 2 mm thick. Stems many from base, prostrate, ca. 1 mm thick, sparsely white pilose. Leaves opposite; stipules forming prickles, ciliate; petiole ca. 1 mm; leaf blade long elliptic to reniform-oblong, 6-12(-30) × 2-4(-13) mm, adaxially green, often with an oblong purple spot in middle, abaxially light green or gray-green, purple spot easily seen when fresh, invisible when dry, both surfaces glabrous, base obliquely slightly attenuate-rounded, margin entire below middle, finely serrulate above, apex obtuse. Cyathia from nodes, peduncle 1-2 mm; involucre narrowly cuplike, 0.7-1 × ca. 0.5 mm, white pubescent outside, marginal lobes 5, triangular-rounded; glands 4, yellow-green, transversely elliptic, appendages white. Male flowers 4 or 5, slightly exserted. Female flower exserted from involucre; ovary pilose; styles short, con-nate at base; stigma 2-lobed. Capsule 3-angular-ovoid, ca. 2 × 2 mm, smooth, sparsely pilose. Seeds ovoid-tetragonal, ca. 1 × 0.7 mm, gray or gray-brown, each side with 5 transverse furrows; caruncle absent. Fl. and fr. Apr-Sep.

Grasslands, roadsides, naturalized. Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Taiwan, Zhejiang [Asia, Europe, North America].

Chamaesyce maculata (Linnaeus) Small; Euphorbia supina Rafinesque.