Petty Spurge - Euphorbia peplus

Description

Plant up to 20 cm with an erect stem, the base of which is red/green, smooth and hairless, and exudes a white sticky sap when broken. The stem divides into branches and each branch divides 3-5 times. The stem leaves grow alternately however the leaves on the upper branches are opposite. The flower is green and is very small and surrounded by bracts (modified leaves). The flowers are very difficult to see as they look, at a glance, like new leaves forming at the end of each stem.

Similar Species

Euphorbia helioscopia is a similar small spurge

Identification difficulty
ID guidance

Small annual plant; glabrous, ovate leaves; glands on the cyathium (the cup shaped structure that bears the male and female flowers) are concave on the outer edge, with two points

Habitat

Cultivated fields, gardens and allotments.

When to see it

April to October.

Life History

Annual.

UK Status

Common in England and Wales, but scarce in Scotland.

VC55 Status

Common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 417 of the 617 tetrads.

In the current checklist (Jeeves, 2011) it is listed as Alien, archaeophyte; locally frequent

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Petty Spurge
Species group:
Wildflowers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Malpighiales
Family:
Euphorbiaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
145
First record:
18/05/2006 (Calow, Graham)
Last record:
19/02/2024 (axon, kaye)

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% of records within its species group

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