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Waiuatua

Euphorbia glauca

Waiuatua
Photo: Alan Liefting at English Wikipedia, Public domain

Waiuatua is a blue-green, sprawling coastal perennial herb endemic to New Zealand, growing on cliffs, dunes and rocky shores. It is a species in decline, and it is best grown in full sun in very well-drained soil.

Family
Euphorbiaceae (Spurge family)
Grows as
Perennial
Light
Full sun
Water
Water sparingly once established, letting the soil dry out between waterings.
Soil
Free-draining sandy or gritty mix.
Temperature
10–25 °C; tolerates cool coastal conditions but protect from hard frost.
How easy
Moderate
Native range
Chatham Is., Norfolk I., New Zealand (incl. Stewart I.)
Climate
wet tropical

About

Euphorbia glauca, known by the common names of waiūatua, waiū-o-Kahukura, New Zealand sea spurge, or shore spurge, is a coastal plant endemic to New Zealand. It is in decline.

How to grow it

The seeds of the plant are naturally dispersed by wind and water. It can be propagated from seed, cuttings or by plant division. The plant is propagated in nurseries and does best in sunny well-drained spots.

Where it grows

This species is endemic to New Zealand, found on coastal cliffs, sand dunes, banks and slopes and rocky lake shore scarps. It is at risk from browsing domestic and feral animals including pigs, cattle and sheep. Possums are also a threat. Its habitat can be impacted by road widening or erosion. A fungal disease is thought to have affected populations on the West Coast of the South Island.

Uses

A 1930s New Zealand Cookery Calendar from Poverty Bay Federation of Women's Institutes suggests E. glauca could be used to treat skin conditions but would require boiling the plant for an hour in a bath tub full of water before a person could then bathe in the strained water.

Other Euphorbia plants

Marble Canyon spurge · Abd Al Kuri Euphorbia · Euphorbia abdita · Euphorbia abdulghafooriana · Abram's Spurge · Desert Candle · Euphorbia acalyphoides · Greek Spiny Spurge · Euphorbia actinoclada · Pointed Sandmat · Euphorbia adenopoda · Miniature Saguaro

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Euphorbia glauca 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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