Common Name:
LEAFY SPURGE
Synonym:
Euphorbia esula
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Coefficient of Conservatism:
*
Coefficient of Wetness:
5
Wetness Index:
UPL
Physiognomy:
Ad P-Forb
C. Peirce
E. esula of Michigan Flora)
Roadsides, railroads, fields, gravel pits, and such places. A European species, more widely naturalized than E. cyparissias, and an abundant weed in some areas of the northern Lower Peninsula, centering in Otsego Co. where it may carpet open areas with a bright yellow-green color in early summer. First collected in 1885 in Ingham Co.
The sturdy horizontal roots, by which it spreads, make this a difficult species to eradicate. It is almost as leafy as E. cyparissias, but the leaves and bracts are larger and the plant taller. Both species have reduced scale-like leaves at the base of the stems.
All our plants have been annotated as E. virgata by D. V. Geltman (see Geltman, 1998), which differs from E. esula in having the leaves more or less acute at the apex and usually linear to linear-lanceolate, while E. esula has the leaves rounded at the apex and narrowly obovate or oblanceolate. Euporbia esula is known from nearby areas and could well occur in Michigan.