Spurge Family:-

"All our spurges (Euphorbia) are non-woody plants of no great height, with an acrid milky juice and undivided leaves, which in the great majority are also alternate and untoothed. Their flowers are yellowish-green in umbel-like clusters which broaden as they develop. They are a fantastic surrealist jumble of strange miniature shapes, 1-stalked female with three often forked styles among many minute 1-stamened male flowers. This group is based in a fleshy cup with 4 conspicuous oval or crecent-shaped lobes. From this lolls on an elongated stalk the round 3-celled fruit. What appears to be petals are actually outer bracts." from Collins Pocket Guide to Wild Flowers by David McClintock and R.S.R. Fitter assisted by Francis Rose - ISBN 0 00 219363 9 - Eleventh Impression 1978.

Spurge Family plant table with its Common Name - Botanical Name. Flowering Months Range. Habitat with link to that Sedge Carex to Stonecrop Wild Flower Families Gallery:-

Common Name

Botanical Name

Flowering Months

Habitat

Annual Mercury

Mercurialis annua

May onwards

A dioecious annual of disturbed waste places, cultivated ground, particularly in allotments and gardens, rubbish tips, walls, and roadsides, thriving on light, nutrient-rich soils. It produces a long-lived seed bank. Lowland. It is a widespread but local weed, chiefly in Southern England and near the sea.

Male Flower from Rochester in September

Female Flowers from Rochester in Kent in September

Foliage

Form from Rochester in September

Broad Spurge

(Broad-leaved Spurge)

Euphorbia platyphyllos

June onwards

An annual of cultivated and waste ground, usually growing on calcareous clays but sometimes on lighter chalk or limestone soils. It is found most frequently at the margins of arable fields, and occasionally on roadsides. Its seed is thought to be long-lived in the soil. Lowland.

Caper Spurge

(Garden Spurge)

Euphorbia lathyris

June-August

A biennial of disturbed ground and waste places, including roadsides, abandoned gardens, old quarries and rubbish tips, often near human habitation; it also occurs in open woodland. The seeds are very long-lived. Lowland.

Flower in June

Flowers in June

Foliage in April

Form

Cypress Spurge

Euphorbia cyparissias

May-August

A rhizomatous perennial herb widely naturalised as a garden escape in waste places such as tracksides, roadsides, walls and sandy banks, and also in calcareous grassland and amongst scrub. It can colonise arable margins, and may become established on sand dunes. It also grows on some racecourses where it could have been introduced with horse-feed or bedding. Lowland.

Flower from Kerry

Flowers from Halling in Kent

Foliage from Triesemberg on 9 May

Form from Triesemberg in Liciechenstein on 9 May

Dog's Mercury

Mercurialis perennis

February-May

A rhizomatous, dioecious perennial herb usually growing on damp but free-draining base-rich soils. In the lowlands it is largely restricted to shaded sites, including ancient woodland, older secondary woodland, hedgerows and shaded banks, but in the uplands it occurs on unshaded basic crags, scree, cliff ledges and in ravines, particularly on moist N.-facing slopes, and it also grows in the grikes of limestone pavements. 0-1005 m (Ben Lawers, Mid Perth).

Female Flower from Halling in Kent on 21 March

Male Flowers from Halling on 21 March

Foliage from Halling on 21 March

Form from Halling on 21 March

Female Flowers from Halling on 21 March

Male Flowers in March

Male Flowers on Stem from Halling on 21 March

Foliage in April

Dwarf Spurge

Euphorbia exigua

May onwards

An annual of arable land, less frequently occurring in other areas of disturbed ground such as gardens, waste ground and bare patches in dry grassland. It favours dry, light and base-rich soils in sunny situations. Lowland.

Flower from Strood in Kent in July

Flowers from Strrod in Kent on 30 June

Foliage

Form

Hungarian Spurge

(Leafy Spurge)

Euphorbia esula

June onwards

A perennial herb naturalised in similar habitats to Euphorbia x pseudovirgata, including tracks, hedgerows, waste ground and road verges. Lowland.

Flower from Chatham in Kent

Flowers from Chatham

Foliage from Chatham

Form from Chatham

Irish Spurge

Euphorbia hyberna

April-July

A rhizomatous perennial of woodland glades, hedgerows and shaded stream banks, growing best when receiving dappled sun for at least part of the day. Lowland, reaching 500 m in Waterville (S. Kerry) and reportedly to 550 m elsewhere in Co. Kerry.

Flower

Flowers

Foliage from Waterville in Kerry on 21 June

Form

Petty Spurge

Euphorbia peplus

Throughout the year

An annual of cultivated, disturbed and waste ground, frequently growing close to human habitation and favouring well-drained and nutrient-rich soils in sun-warmed situations. 0-410 m in Mid-W. Yorkshire.

Flower from Rochester in Kent

Flowers from Rochester

Foliage

Form

Portland Spurge

Euphorbia portlandica

April-September

A biennial or short-lived perennial herb, growing in a wide range of coastal habitats. It occurs on cliffs, rocky slopes and steep maritime grasslands overlying many different rock types, and also on shingle and sheltered or semi-fixed sand dunes. Lowland.

Flower from Murrough in County Clare

Flowers from Berry Head in Devon in May

Foliage from Berry Head in May

Form from Berry Head in May

Purple Spurge

Euphorbia peplis

(Chamaesyce peplis)

July-September

An annual which grows on fine shingle or coarse sand just above the high-water mark of spring tides. Lowland.

Sea Spurge

Euphorbia paralias

June onwards

A deep-rooted perennial herb, thriving on free-draining mobile or semi-stable sand dunes, often in the company of Euphorbia portlandica. It also occurs along the drift-line of sandy foreshores and less frequently on shingle. Lowland.

Flower from Sandwich in Kent on 13 July

Flowers from Sandwich in July

Foliage from East Kent on 11 July

Form from East Kent on 11 July

Sun Spurge

(Madwoman's Milk)

Euphorbia helioscopia

April onwards

An annual growing in cultivated and disturbed ground in gardens, on waste ground and in arable fields, particularly with root and leaf crops. It thrives on dry, well-drained, neutral to base-rich soils in sun-warmed situations. The seeds may be dispersed by ants. Mainly lowland, but ascending to 450 m in Clun Forest (Salop).

Flower in May

Flowers in April

Foliage

Form in April

Tintern Spurge

(Upright Spurge)

Euphorbia stricta

June omwards

Woodlands and Hedges (confined to clearings in limestone woods in the lower Wye valley and a hedge-bank near Bath)

Wood Spurge

Euphorbia amygdaloides

March-May

A rhizomatous perennial herb of neutral or acidic soils in old woods and shaded hedge banks, more rarely found amongst scrub and around rock outcrops. In woods it is a light-demanding plant which may re-appear from buried seed after coppicing. It is also cultivated as a garden plant, where it is persistent and can be very invasive. Generally lowland, reaching 455 m at Rhydymain (Merioneth).

Flower from Berry Head

Flowers from Berry Head in Devon

Foliagefrom Berry Head in May

Form