Flowering spurge

Images

Click on image to view full size

Flowering spurge

Flowering spurge

Flowering spurge

Flowering spurge

Flowering spurge fruit

Flowering spurge

Flowering spurge leaves

Flowering spurge leaves

Flowering spurge

Flowering spurge

Morphology

Stem

Erect, solitary or few, usually simple below, few- to much-branched at top, pale green to yellowish-green, glabrous.

Leaves

Alternate on stem, often opposite in inflorescence; upper stem leaves in whorl below inflorescence; simple, sessile, often ascending, oblong or narrowly elliptic, .8 to 2.4 inches long, usually less than 1/2 inch wide, green to light green; margins entire; surfaces glabrous or sparsely to moderately pubescent; base rounded or narrowed; tip rounded or rarely sharply pointed; upper leaves reduced.

Inflorescence

Cyme, corymb-like or panicle-like, many-flowered, up to 14 inches across, terminal and in axils of upper leaves; flowering stalks 3-10, branching; branches usually branched additional times.

Flower

Receptacles, cup-like, solitary at branch tips, short-stalked, with 5 petal-like appendages attached around rim of cup; appendages conspicuous, 1/20 to 1/6 inch long, white; yellowish glands at base of each appendage; staminate flowers 10-21; pistillate flower 1, with 3 styles; petals and sepals absent.

Fruit

Capsule, on short stalk, 3-lobed, 1/10 to 1/6 inch long, glabrous; seeds 3, egg-shaped, about 1/10 inch long, gray or light brown, mottled.

Ecology

Habitat

Rocky prairies, pastures, open woods, roadsides, stream and river banks, old fields, fallow fields, waste places, thickets; dry or sandy or clay soils.

Distribution

East 2/5 of Kansas

Reproduction

By seed and by rhizome

Practical Information

Toxicity

Poisonous but rarely fatal. Cattle will avoid grazing it, but sometimes ingest it in hay. Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, and excessive salivation. The milky sap can cause skin irritation in humans.

Uses

The root was used to treat toothaches and was boiled and the liquid taken for rheumatism. The plant was boiled and taken to treat gonorrhea and boiled with herbs and the liquid taken to treat cancer. The sap was applied to sores.

Additional Notes