Spurge Family [Euphorbiaceae] |
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11th June 2009, Hightown, Sefton Coastal Path, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
Forms large-ish patches in grassland. |
16th Aug 2010, Hightown, Sefton Coast, | Photo: © RWD |
Displaying its 'twiggy' nature. |
11th June 2009, Hightown, Sefton Coastal Path, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
A profusion of leaves and flowers. Like Cypress Spurge the flowers are bright yellow. |
7th Aug 2009, Hightown, Sefton Coastal Path, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
The stems are twiggy, and have leafy side-branches bearing linear leaves. Stalks with flowers come off the main stalk in several places near the top. |
16th Aug 2010, Hightown, Sefton Coast, | Photo: © RWD |
7th Aug 2009, Hightown, Sefton Coastal Path, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
The top is crowned by the (here) seven-fold symmetric branching, encircled by a whorl of (here) seven wider leaves just below the junction. A large fruit nestles just above the (here) 7-way junction. Other specimens differ in the number. |
16th Aug 2010, Hightown, Sefton Coast, | Photo: © RWD |
Whereas here displaying 5-fold symmetry. |
7th Aug 2009, Hightown, Sefton Coastal Path, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
Seven flowers (here) at the summit, and sporadic numbers of flowers coming off the stem at intervals below them. |
7th Aug 2009, Hightown, Sefton Coastal Path, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
The stem leaves amidst the single flowers are shorter and wider and far fewer than the many long narrow linear leaves coming off the main stem on branches. |
7th Aug 2009, Hightown, Sefton Coastal Path, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
Flower head yellowish-green with a number of flowers on long stalks. |
7th Aug 2009, Hightown, Sefton Coastal Path, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
The flowers are between two large heart-shaped yellow bracts opposing each other. The bracts have points at the tips and a little wavy. The fruit bears three long protrusions from the end. |
7th Aug 2009, Hightown, Sefton Coastal Path, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
Each flower has four shiny yellow short-horned lobes facing outwards plus a doubled-over fruit, and two 'latent' un-folded bracts. |
7th Aug 2009, Hightown, Sefton Coastal Path, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
The two un-folded bracts might also contain flower parts. |
16th Aug 2010, Hightown, Sefton Coast, | Photo: © RWD |
With the styles here tipped black they are easier to discern. |
7th Aug 2009, Hightown, Sefton Coastal Path, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
The four shiny short-horned yellow lobes are like open-ended square-nut spanners, all facing away from each other. |
16th Aug 2010, Hightown, Sefton Coast, | Photo: © RWD |
The imature fruit is only slightly 3-lobed. Good view of the bracts underneath. |
7th Aug 2009, Hightown, Sefton Coastal Path, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
A more mature plant bearing developed three-lobed fruits. |
7th Aug 2009, Hightown, Sefton Coastal Path, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
The three-lobed reddened nuts turn brown later. The points on the tips of the bracts are in evidence. |
7th Aug 2009, Hightown, Sefton Coastal Path, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
The leaves on the branched stems are long, narrow and slowly taper to a point. There is a mid-rib better seen from the underside. |
16th Aug 2010, Hightown, Sefton Coast, | Photo: © RWD |
Like all spurges the broken stems ooze a toxic white sap. Leaves narrow with pale-green mid-rib visible on underside. |
Not to be confused semantically with either the common name or the specific epithet of : Twiggy Mullein (Verbascum virgatum) [a plant with similar name belonging to a differing family]
This is the hybrid of:
The toxic white sap of Twiggy Spurge is an alien Spurge; one of about 10 that are locally established.
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Euphorbia | × pseudovirgata | ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ | Euphorbiaceae |
Euphorbia (Spurges) |
Spurge Family [Euphorbiaceae] |