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Toothed spurge

Euphorbia dentata

Also called Toothed Euphorbia, Dentate Spurge, Green Poinsettia, Toothedleaf Poinsettia

Toothed spurge
Photo: Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0

Toothed spurge is a hairy annual herb from the Americas, usually a weed in fields, roadsides and waste ground rather than a garden plant. Grow it only if you want a wild or pollinator-friendly patch, and expect it to self-seed freely.

Family
Euphorbiaceae (Spurge family)
Grows as
Annual
Light
Full sun
Water
Water sparingly; it tolerates dry conditions once established.
Soil
Tolerates poor, dry, disturbed soils.
Temperature
18–35 °C; frost-tender and dies off with cold weather.
How easy
Easy
Safety
Toxic: The milky sap is irritating to skin and eyes, and the plant is harmful if swallowed, as are other spurges.
Native range
C. & EC. U.S.A. to NE. Mexico
Climate
temperate

About

Euphorbia dentata is a species of spurge known by the common names toothed spurge and green poinsettia. It is native to parts of North and South America, and is present elsewhere on the continents. Its true native range is uncertain. It is a noxious weed in some areas. This is a hairy annual herb with an erect or somewhat erect stem reaching anywhere from 20 to 50 centimeters tall. Its hairy, pointed leaves are a few centimeters long, widely to narrowly lance-shaped, and generally toothed. The inflorescence appears at the end of branches and contain cream or yellowish staminate or pistillate flowers just a few millimeters wide. The fruit is a lobed spherical or heart-shaped capsule about half a centimeter wide which contains three bumpy rounded seeds.

Other Euphorbia plants

Abd Al Kuri Euphorbia · Desert Candle · Greek Spiny Spurge · Euphorbia actinoclada · Miniature Saguaro · Pincushion Euphorbia · Euphorbia alcicornis · Euphorbia alfredii · Euphorbia ambarivatoensis · Euphorbia ambovombensis · African candelabra · Euphorbia ampliphylla

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Euphorbia dentata by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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