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The Western Australian Herbarium’s collections management system and census were set to read-only mode on 1 October 2025. Taxonomic updates published since this time are not being reflected in Florabase, herbarium collections, or Western Australia’s taxonomic names census (Nomos). Conservation listings displayed on Florabase may also be out of date. Please refer to DBCA’s Threatened species and communities webpage for the most recent Threatened and Priority Flora List, noting that recent taxonomic updates are similarly not included. Our database migration is moving to a staging phase. We thank you for your patience as we ensure the integrity of our biodiversity data, develop new workflows, and train staff to use the new systems. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.

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Mercurialis L.

Reference
Sp.Pl. [Linnaeus] 2:1035 (1753)
Name Status
Current

Scientific Description

Family Euphorbiaceae.

Habit and leaf form. Herbs; laticiferous, or non-laticiferous and without coloured juice, or with coloured juice. Plants succulent, or non-succulent. Annual, or perennial; sometimes rhizomatous. Mesophytic, or xerophytic. Leaves minute to large; opposite; ‘herbaceous’, or leathery, or fleshy; petiolate; gland-dotted; simple. Leaf blades entire; pinnately veined. Leaves with stipules. Stipules scaly, or leafy, or spiny, or represented by glands; caducous, or persistent. Leaf blade margins crenate. Leaves without a persistent basal meristem. Leaf anatomy. Urticating hairs present, or absent. Stem anatomy. Nodes tri-lacunar, or unilacunar. Secondary thickening developing from a conventional cambial ring, or anomalous; from a single cambial ring.

Reproductive type, pollination. Fertile flowers functionally male and functionally female. Unisexual flowers present. Plants dioecious (rarely a few male flowers developing on female plants), or monoecious (in some polyploid taxa). Female flowers with staminodes (2 subulate staminodia usually present), or without staminodes. Male flowers without pistillodes. Entomophilous.

Inflorescence and flower features. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’. Inflorescences axillary; of modified thyrses, the male racemiform or spiciform, the female capituliform-pedunculate. Flowers bracteate (female bracts 1-flowered, male several-flowered); minute, or small, or medium-sized; regular. Free hypanthium absent. Hypogynous disk absent. Perianth sepaline; 3; 1 -whorled. Calyx 3; polysepalous, or gamosepalous; valvate (in male flowers), or imbricate (in female flowers); regular. Fertile stamens present, or absent (female flowers). Androecium 8–15(–20). Androecial members free of the perianth; free of one another. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 8–15(–20); polystemonous; variously orientated in bud. Anthers dehiscing transversely; extrorse; bilocular to four locular; bisporangiate, or tetrasporangiate. Fertile gynoecium present, or absent (male flowers). Gynoecium 2(–3) carpelled. The pistil 2(–3) celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; synovarious, or synstylovarious (depending on interpretation of partially connate styles); superior. Ovary plurilocular; 2(–3) locular. Styles 2(–3); partially joined (basally connate); simple; apical. Stigmas 2(–3); dry type; papillate; Group II type. Placentation axile, or apical. Ovules 1 per locule; pendulous; epitropous; with ventral raphe, or with dorsal raphe; arillate; anatropous.

Fruit and seed features. Fruit non-fleshy; dehiscent; a capsule. Seeds endospermic. Endosperm oily. Seeds arillate. Cotyledons 2 (much wider than the radicle). Embryo straight, or curved. Seedling. Germination phanerocotylar, or cryptocotylar.

Physiology, biochemistry. Mustard-oils present, or absent.

Geography, cytology, number of species. Adventive.