PORTLAND SPURGE
Euphorbia Portlandica
Spurge Family [Euphorbiaceae] 
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Spurge Family [Euphorbiaceae]
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flower |
inner |
petals |
stem |
toxicity |
2010_06_03_WalneyIsland_624p1.jpg)
| 3rd June 2010, North Walney, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
| By showing Sea Spurge (left) and Portland Spurge (right) side by side the differences are immediately obvious: Sea spurge is taller, mostly un-branched, and has much larger and less yellow flowers in a flat-topped spread (although both can have red stems). |
2010_06_03_WalneyIsland_614p8.jpg)
| 3rd June 2010, North Walney, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
| Both stems and stem leaves have a propensity to be scarlet reddish. Moreover, the stem leaves vary in number up the stem, with a flurry about half-way up, where they are more likely to be reddish, whereas those of Sea Spurge are evenly distributed up the stem and have much less redness if any. |
2010_06_03_WalneyIsland_615p7.jpg)
| 3rd June 2010, North Walney, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
| From above it is shorter and squatter than Sea Spurge. |
2010_06_03_WalneyIsland_617p4.jpg)
| 3rd June 2010, North Walney, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
| The flowers of Portland Spurge are half the size of those of Sea Spurge and are more yellow. They also have a prominent mid-rib on the underside of the leaf (bottom, right of centre), whereas Sea Spurge lacks this. |
2010_06_03_WalneyIsland_620p0.jpg)
| 3rd June 2010, North Walney, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
| The bracts of Portland Spurge are Ace of Spades shaped with a tiny point at the ends absent in Sea Spurge. They prominent mid-rib on the underside of the bract (centre, left) is also prominent, whereas Sea Spurge lacks this. |
2010_06_03_WalneyIsland_620p2.jpg)
| 3rd June 2010, North Walney, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
| The fruits are only slightly rough in comparison to those of Sea Spurge, and the crescentic horns in the flowers are longer. |
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Some similarities to : Sea Spurge Hybridizes with: Sea Spurge, the hybrid occuring in only one hactad on the coaast of Mid-Wales. Uniquely identifiable characteristics (once the two Spurges are compared visually side by side). Portland Spurge flowers a month or two before Sea Spurge. Portland Spurge is less abundant and inhabits far fewer localities than Sea Spurge. Habitats are sand dunes and rock faces near the sea, especially on the south coasts of Wales and England. ANY TEXT GOES HERE |
 Euphorbia |
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Spurge Family [Euphorbiaceae]
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