Flowering Spurge
Euphorbia corollata
Poisonous
Skin irritating
Family:
Euphorbiaceae (spurges)
Description:
Flowering spurge is a smooth, leafy perennial with a much-branched top. Flowers: when growing on poor ground, only a few, but in rich soils plants may spread as wide as they are tall with a large inflorescence. The floral cups have 5 white false petals surrounding tiny yellow male flowers and a single female flower (this arrangement, called a cyathium, is typical of flowers in the spurge family). Blooms May–October. Leaves alternate on lower stems, sessile, narrowing toward base, ovate, with smooth edges. Leaves at the branching points are in whorls. Leaves in inflorescence are opposite. Leaves and stems are usually hairless but some plants have hairs. The sap is milky and can be skin-irritating.
Size:
Height: often to 3 feet.
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Flowering Spurge Flowers
The floral cups of flowering spurge have 5 white false petals surrounding tiny yellow male flowers and a single female flower.
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Flowering Spurge (Leaf Whorls)
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Flowering Spurge Flower Clusters
When flowering spurge grows in rich soils, as on native tallgrass prairies, a single plant can produce a profusion of flowers.
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Flowering Spurge
Habitat and conservation:
Occurs in fields, glades, prairies, open woods, rocky places, roadsides, and railroads.
Distribution in Missouri:
Statewide.
Status:
Spurges are members of the family Euphorbiaceae. Other plants in this family include poinsettias, castor beans, cassava, the Para rubber tree (whose sap is a source of natural rubber), the houseplant called "crown of thorns," and several other cactus lookalikes often used as houseplants. Another relative, prostrate spurge, commonly grows in sidewalk cracks. Common traits include the curious floral arrangement, and milky, skin-irritating sap.
Human connections:
As with many other plants containing toxic chemicals, Native Americans used flowering spurge medicinally, for treating constipation, arthritis, and other ailments. The pretty sprays of white flowers look much like the florist's "baby's breath." Toxins in the leaves can kill cattle.
Ecosystem connections:
Wild turkey eat several parts of this plant; prairie-chicken, quail, and mourning doves eat the seeds. Deer browse the leaves in spring and summer. Several types of wasps and other insects visit the flowers, and ants might help distribute the seeds.
Similar Species
American Feverfew
Parthenium integrifolium
Bastard Toadflax
Comandra umbellata (formerly C. richardsiana)
Indian Hemp (Dogbane)
Apocynum cannabinum
Milkweeds
Subfamily Asclepiadoideae
Wood Spurge
Euphorbia commutata
Leafy Spurge
Euphorbia esula
Hogwort (Woolly Croton)
Croton capitatus
Pale Indian Plantain
Arnoglossum atriplicifolium (also Cacalia atriplicifolia)
Slender Mountain Mint
Pycnanthemum tenuifolium
About Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants in Missouri
A very simple way of thinking about the green world is to divide the vascular plants into two groups: woody and nonwoody (or herbaceous). But this is an artificial division; many plant families include some species that are woody and some that are not. The diversity of nonwoody vascular plants is staggering! Think of all the ferns, grasses, sedges, lilies, peas, sunflowers, nightshades, milkweeds, mustards, mints, and mallows — weeds and wildflowers — and many more!