Spurges

Spurge Family - Euphorbiaceae

Turn-sole Chrozophora tinctoria

Native throughout the Mediterranean Region and eastwards to Central Asia and India. The whole plant is covered in conspicuous, stellate hairs. Male and female flowers separate but carried in the same cluster.


Male & female flowers	Female flower	Female flower	Leaf

Leaf upperside	Seed capsules	Seed capsule	Stellate stem hairs

Annual Mercury Mercurialis annua

Native to much of Europe and the Mediterranean Region to the Arabian Peninsula.


Habit	Habit	Male flowers	Female flower

Leaf

Purple Spurge Euphorbia peplis

Native to coastal areas of western and southern Europe and from Macaronesia eastwards through the mediterranean Region to Iran. Stems reddish purple or yellow in colour, creeping to form leafy mats. Leaves relatively large for this group of plants, to 15mm in length, somewhat fleshy.


Habit	Habit	Flower	Flower

Leaves	Leaf	Seed capsules	Seed capsule

Spotted Sandmat Euphorbia maculata

Native to North and Central America but widely introduced elsewhere. Stems creeping to form leafy mats. Leaves lightly toothed on the margins and usually with a dark blotch, but this blotch may be absent on some plants. Stems lightly hairy with adpressed hairs. Flowers with white glands. Seed capsules grooved and without dimpled surfaces but with a light covering of hairs.


Habit	Flowers	Flowers	Leaves

Prostrate Sandmat Euphorbia prostrata

Native to the Americas but widely introduced into the Old World. Stems creeping to form leafy mats. Leaves lightly toothed on the margins and stems noticeably hairy towards the tips. Flowers with reddish glands. Seed capsules rough, hairy on the keels.


Habit	Habit	Habit	Flowers

Flowers	Leaves	Leaves

Balkan Spurge Euphorbia oblongata

Native to the Balkan Peninsula, eastwards to Turkey. Favours scrub and woodland habitats. Stems hairy, upright to 90cm in height from creeping root systems, forming bushy clumps. Leaves and stems with an overall yellow-green look to them. Flower bracts bright yellow, leafy looking. Flower glands typically only 2-3 per flower (rather than four to five), bright yellow without pointed projections. Seed capsules hairless, covered in bumpy tubercles.


Flowers	Flowers	Flowers	Flowers

Leaves	Leaf	Flowers and seed capsules	Stem hairs

Pubescent Spurge Euphorbia hirsuta

Native throughout the Mediterranean Region from Macaronesia eastwards to Asia Minor and the Caucasus. Typically a plant of seasonally wet places, especially coastal regions but rare on Lesvos.


Habit	Habit	Flowers	Flowers

Flowers	Leaves	Leaves	Seed capsule

Narrow-leaved Glaucous Spurge Euphorbia rigida

Native in Morocco, south-east Europe and the Caucasus to Iran. Leaves glaucous, stiff and fleshy.


Habit	Habit	Flowers	Flower

Leaves	Seed capsules	Seed capsules

Dwarf Spurge Euphorbia exigua

Native throughout Europe and the Mediterranean Region to Iran.


Habit	Flowers	Flowers	Leaves

Petty Spurge Euphorbia peplus

Native throughout Europe, western Asia to Inda and North and East Africa.


Habit	Flowers	Flowers	Seed capsule

Sun Spurge Euphorbia helioscopia

Native throughout most of Europe, Asia and North Africa.


Habit	Flowers	Flowers	Seed capsule

Sea Spurge Euphorbia paralias

Native around Atlantic, Black Sea and Mediterranean coasts of Europe and North Africa. Grows in coastal sands.


Habit	Flowers	Flowers and seed capsule	Leaves

Mediterranean Spurge Euphorbia characias

Native throughout most of the Mediterranean Region. Flowers with either yellow-green glands (subspecies wulfenii) or brown to reddish glands (subspecies characias). Seed capsules grooved, not warty densely hairy.