Evergreen woodland spurge with reddish upright stems and lime-yellow cup-shaped flower heads in April to June, oozing milky sap when cut
Wood spurge — Euphorbia amygdaloides.
Nature · Wildflowers & flowers
Wood spurge
Native · flowers Apr–Jun · damp, coppiced woodland, mainly southern England
Euphorbia amygdaloides — Euphorbiaceae
Wood spurge is an evergreen woodland spurge with upright, often red-tinged stems, whorls of dark leaves and domed heads of lime-yellow cup-shaped flowers in spring. Its milky sap is toxic and irritant to skin and eyes. It is the wild ancestor of several garden spurges and grows especially well in coppiced woods in southern England.
How to spot them
- ▸Upright, reddish stems up to about 80 cm, carrying long, narrow, blunt leaves that are dark green above and often red-tinged, in spirals
- ▸Greenish-yellow flower clusters made of cup-shaped structures without ordinary petals or sepals, in domed heads at the stem tips
- ▸Evergreen: leafy stems overwinter and flower in their second spring
- ▸Milky white sap flows from a broken stem
- ▸Look-alike: Mediterranean spurge (Euphorbia characias), a taller, greyer garden plant, lacks the reddish stems and blunt, dark leaves; sun spurge is a small annual of cultivated ground
How to know it
Its specific name means 'almond-like', a reference to the leaves of this woodland spurge
Euphorbia amygdaloides — wood spurge.
The milky sap of this woodland plant is toxic and can irritate skin and eyes, so gloves are advised when handling it
Wood spurge — the RHS warns of irritant sap.
A common plant of damp, coppiced woods in southern England, this spurge is the wild parent of cultivated forms
Wood spurge.
Members of its genus produce a milky latex and cup-shaped 'cyathia' rather than ordinary flowers
Wood spurge — Euphorbiaceae.
Quick-fire facts
- •Family Euphorbiaceae; species name amygdaloides means resembling almond (Amygdalus)
- •Flowers April to June, according to the Wildlife Trusts, and can reach about 80 cm
- •Milky white sap is toxic; the RHS says it irritates skin and eyes and is harmful if eaten
- •Found mainly in southern England in damp and coppiced woods and shady banks; conservation status common
- •Ancestor of garden forms such as 'Purpurea' and one parent of Martin's spurge
- •The flower head is made of cyathia: cup-shaped structures with nectar glands and no ordinary petals
- •Dog's mercury is a fellow member of the family Euphorbiaceae
- •Wear gloves when cutting: latex from any Euphorbia can cause painful eye injuries
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Sources
- The Wildlife Trusts — Wood spurge
- Royal Horticultural Society — Euphorbia amygdaloides | wood spurge