Duration: Perennial
Nativity: Non-Native
Lifeform: Forb/Herb
General: Herbaceous annuals, to 80 cm tall, stems erect, branching several times from the base, herbage, glabrous to hairy.
Leaves: Alternate, blade linear to oblanceolate, 2-6 cm long, tips acute, margins entire, surfaces glabrous, blades sessile.
Flowers: Bright green, with staminate and pistillate flowers borne in bright green bell-shaped involucres (bracts), these bell-shaped and 1.5-2.5 mm long with glabrous surfaces, also with shiny bright green glands, these crescent-shaped and 2-horned, 1.5-2 mm long; staminate flowers 11-21, generally in 5 clusters around the stalked, solitary and central pistillate flowers, ovary chambers 3 with 1 ovule per chamber, styles 3, divided for half their length.
Fruits: Lobed spheric capsules 3-5 mm long with granular to smooth surfaces. Seeds oblong and rounded, yellowish brown, 2-2.5 mm long.
Ecology: Found in fields and pastures below 4,500 ft (1372 m); flowering
Distribution: This species has not been recognized as occurring in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, or Nevada, and is not treated in older versions of Kearney and Peebles; the closest states to the southwest this species has been reported in are California, Colorado and Kan
Notes: This plant is listed under E. virgata in Jepson as of May 2012, who notes it is considered a noxious weed.
Synonyms: Many, see Tropicos
Editor: LCrumbacher2012
Strong-rooted, vigorously colonial perennial, erect, 3-7 dm, glabrous, usually with numerous alternate flowering branches below the umbel; cauline lvs linear to lance-linear or narrowly oblanceolate, mostly 3-8 cm נ3-8 mm, obtuse to mucronate, essentially 1-nerved, the lateral veins very obscure, leaving the midrib at an angle of 15-35л lvs subtending the umbel shorter and broader, lanceolate to ovate, those of the umbel opposite, broadly cordate or reniform; rays of the primary umbel mostly 7-15; fr 3-3.5 mm, finely granular; seeds ellipsoid, 2-2.5 mm; 2n=20, 60, 64. Native of Eurasia, widely established in N. Amer. from New England to the Pacific, s. to Md., Ind., Io., and Colo. Summer. (Tithymalus e.; Galarhoeus e.; Euphorbia intercedens; E. podperae; E. virgata, at least as applied to N. Amer. plants)
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
This species has been reported as an escape, etc., in three counties. Hansen (Proc. Indiana Acad. Sci. 37: 320. 1928) says: "Specimens were collected in full flower near Winamac, where it is established along roadsides, on June 20, 1927." W. N. Clute informed me in 1936 that there is "a large colony along the canal in Indianapolis between Illinois and Meridian Streets." In 1937 I found it abundant over an area of 3 acres in a pasture about 3 miles southwest of Knox, Starke County. Leafy Spurge is a very obnoxious weed and spreads rapidly. Its roots penetrate the soil to a depth of 5-15 feet. On account of the acrid latex stock will not eat it. If a colony of this pest is discovered no amount of effort or expense should be spared in order to exterminate it.
