Observation Fields
Welcome to the project! To start, I figured I should explain the recommended observation fields. I wouldn't worry too much about these if you feel overwhelmed by them or don't know what to put. They are, after all, recommended and not required. However, if you are inclined to learn a bit more about Euphorbia I'll try to give an idea of what some of the more confusing fields mean.
Habit:
There are several basic growth forms in Euphorbia that are useful for identification. The major ones I'm looking for are prostrate, ascending, erect, shrub, or tree. You can also combine these for something like erect/ascending or shrub/tree. I'm sure there are many more that habit terms one could come up with to describe the shape of a tree and you are more than welcome to if you want. However, there aren't many species that become trees in the United States, so the detail isn't as pertinent as it might be for groups with more tree species. The only natives species that I can think of occur in Hawaii.
Euphorbia taxonomic groups:
If you're unsure on this, just keep it at unknown. I may eventually change it but this part is rather complicated. Euphorbia is separated out into several subgroups. I am following the Flora of North America treatment that just came out. They include 5 sections and 3 subgenera. I have provided two other journal posts to help explain this field. The easiest way is to go to the list of species for each section and find your species.
Comments
As you can probably tell, I posted these out of order. I hope it doesn't cause too much inconvenience.
Thanks again Nathan!
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