''Euphorbia esula'', commonly known as green spurge or leafy spurge, is a species of

spurge ''Euphorbia'' is a very large and diverse genus of flowering plants, commonly called spurge, in the family Euphorbiaceae. "Euphorbia" is sometimes used in ordinary English to collectively refer to all members of Euphorbiaceae (in deference to t ...

native to central and southern

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

(north to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

), and eastward through most of

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

north of the

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

and eastern

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

.''Flora Europaea''
''Euphorbia esula''
/ref>Blamey, M. & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). ''Flora of Britain and Northern Europe''.

Description

It is a

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

perennial plant A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

growing to 1-1.2 m tall, with several stems branched from the base. The stems are smooth, hairless, or slightly hairy. The

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are small, lanceolate, 4-8.5 cm long and up to 1 cm broad, with a slightly wavy margin. The

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s are small, produced in

umbel In botany, an umbel is an inflorescence that consists of a number of short flower stalks (called pedicels) that spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs. The word was coined in botanical usage in the 1590s, from Latin ''umbella'' "p ...

s with a basal pair of bright yellow-green petal-like

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s. Clusters of the bracts appear in late spring, while the actual flowers do not develop until early summer. All parts of the plant contain a toxic white milky sap.Huxley, A, ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. It reproduces readily like by

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s that have a high

germination Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, fer ...

rate and may remain viable in the soil for at least eight years. The seed capsules open explosively, dispersing seed up to 5 m from the parent plant, and may be carried further by water and wildlife. Leafy spurge also spreads vegetatively from the

root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the sur ...

system, which is complex, reported to reach 8 m into the ground and 5 m across, and may have numerous buds.U.S. National Park Service description
/ref>Species Profile - Leafy Spurge (''Euphorbia esula'')
National Invasive Species Information Center,

National Agricultural Library The United States National Agricultural Library (NAL) is one of the world's largest agricultural research libraries, and serves as a national library of the United States and as the library of the United States Department of Agriculture. Located ...

There are two

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

and a

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

subspecies: *''Euphorbia esula'' subsp. ''esula''. Leaves broadest near apex; umbel bracts 5–15 mm. Throughout the range of the species. *''Euphorbia esula'' subsp. ''tommasiniana'' (Bertol.) Kuzmanov (syn. ''E. waldsteinii'' (Sojak) A.R.Smith; ''E. virgata'' Waldst. & Kit.). Leaves broadest at the middle; umbel bracts 12–35 mm. Eastern Europe, western Asia. *''Euphorbia esula'' nothosubsp. ''pseudovirgata'' (Schur) Govaerts. Hybrid between the above two subspecies.

Confusion with ''Euphorbia virgata''

It has commonly been confused with ''

Euphorbia virgata ''Euphorbia virgata'', commonly known as leafy spurge, wolf's milk leafy spurge, or wolf's milk is a species of Euphorbia, spurge native to Europe and Asia, and introduced in North America, where it is an invasive species. Confusion with ''Eupho ...

''. ''E. esula'' is no longer considered a permanent component of the North American flora. ''E. esula'' is restricted to certain parts of Europe and not considered a weedy species, while ''E. virgata'' is found throughout the United States and Canada and has caused significant economic and ecological impacts. ''E. virgata'' is best distinguished from ''E. esula'' by its leaves, which are 6-15 times longer than wide with margins that are (near-)parallel at the middle of the blade, while ''E. esula'' leaves are wider toward the tip, usually 3-8 times longer than wide, with margins that are not parallel at the middle of the leaf. In addition, the apex of ''E. virgata'' is usually acute and the base is truncate to attenuate, while the apex of ''E. esula'' is rounded or subacute and the base is more gradually attenuate or cuneate. Mentions of ''E. esula'' in the North American flora and invasive species literature are now referred to ''E. virgata''.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q148882 esula Flora of Europe Flora of Asia Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus