E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

Euphorbia helioscopia L.
summer spurge (madwoman's milk)
Euphorbiaceae (Spurge family)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

Distribution of Euphorbia helioscopia
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Species Information

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Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

General:
Annual herb from a fibrous root; stems somewhat fleshy, simple or branched below, branched in an umbrella-shape above, sparsely hairy below to densely hairy above, with milky juice, 20-50 cm tall.

Leaves:
Stem leaves alternate, fleshy, lower leaves oblanceolate to spoon-shaped, narrowing gradually to the base, 1.5-3 cm long, finely toothed; floral leaves opposite to whorled, finely toothed.

Flowers:
Inflorescence of usually 5-rayed umbrella-shaped clusters; involucres about 2.5 mm long; glands 4, greenish-yellow, not horned.

Fruits:
Capsules, glabrous; seeds egg-shaped, about 2 mm long, yellowish-brown to brownish-black, finely pitted, narrowly ridged.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Habitat / Range

Mesic to dry roadsides, fields and waste places in the lowland and montane zones; rare in SW BC and SE BC; introduced from Eurasia.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Climate

The climate type for this species, as reported in the: "British Columbia plant species codes and selected attributes. Version 6 Database" (Meidinger et al. 2008), is not evaluated, unknown or variable.

Status Information

Origin Status	Provincial Status	BC List (Red Blue List)	COSEWIC
Exotic	SNA	Exotic	Not Listed

BC Ministry of Environment: BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer, the authoritative source for conservation information in British Columbia.

Synonyms and Alternate Names

Galarhoeus helioscopius (L.) Haw.
Tithymalus helioscopius (L.) Hill

Taxonomic and Nomenclatural Links

Genetic information (NCBI Taxonomy Database)
International Plant Names Index
Taxonomic Information from the World Flora Online
Integrated Taxonomic Information System

Additional Range and Status Information Links

Burke Museum of Natural History (Washington State records)
CalFlora
Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria records
Jepson Interchange
NatureServe Explorer
USDA

Additional Photo Sources

Images From CalPhoto
UT Austin's Native Plant Database
Google Image Search
Flickr Image Search

General References

Google Scholar Search
Family References
General Botanical References for BC

Recommended citation: Author, Date. Page title. In Klinkenberg, Brian. (Editor) 2020. E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia [eflora.bc.ca]. Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. [Accessed: 2024-05-21 4:20:39 AM ]

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