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Leafy spurge

Euphorbia esula

Also called Wolf's Milk, Hungarian Spurge, Spurge

Leafy spurge
Photo: Ivar Leidus, CC BY-SA 3.0

Leafy spurge is a hardy, invasive herbaceous perennial from Europe and Asia, grown mostly as a wild weed rather than a garden plant. It spreads aggressively by seed and deep roots, so the key to growing it is containment.

Family
Euphorbiaceae (Spurge family)
Grows as
Perennial
Light
Full sun
Water
Tolerates drought; water only during prolonged dry spells in its first season.
Soil
Almost any soil, including poor, dry or sandy ground.
Temperature
Very cold hardy, tolerating well below freezing; likely comfortable across a wide range, roughly -30 to 35 °C.
How easy
Easy
Safety
Toxic: All parts contain a toxic white milky sap that can irritate skin and eyes and cause severe gastric upset if swallowed.
Native range
Azores to Temp. Eurasia
Climate
temperate

About

Euphorbia esula, commonly known as green spurge or leafy spurge, is a species of spurge native to central and southern Europe (north to England, the Netherlands, and Germany), and eastward through most of Asia north of the Himalaya to Korea and eastern Siberia. It can also be found in some parts of Alaska.

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 esula 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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