Spurge Family [Euphorbiaceae] |
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characiasmorph
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Sub-species veneta (formerly ssp. Wulfenii) |
22nd April 2014, Blundellsands, Crosby, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
Near the spaceship some escape from gardens into the wild. |
22nd April 2014, Blundellsands, Crosby, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
Grows to 1.5m, mainly in gardens. |
22nd April 2014, Blundellsands, Crosby, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
Has a long flowering spike of inflorescences and a slightly longer lower part mostly covered in long narrow leaves, with a bare stem below that where older leaves have dropped off. |
22nd April 2014, Blundellsands, Crosby, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
The flowering head can be both long and wide. |
22nd April 2014, Blundellsands, Crosby, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
The flowering head grows just above the youngest leaves. |
22nd April 2014, Blundellsands, Crosby, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
Bird's-eye view. |
22nd April 2014, Blundellsands, Crosby, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
Showing the 2-tiered fractal nature of the inflorescences. |
22nd April 2014, Blundellsands, Crosby, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
The outer tier of inflorescences. |
22nd April 2014, Blundellsands, Crosby, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
The inflorescences are hairy mostly on the outside (underside when opened) , but also on the nearly-spherical ovary (here with three shrivelled styles emerging from it). |
22nd April 2014, Blundellsands, Crosby, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
The inflorescences contain both male and female parts. |
22nd April 2014, Blundellsands, Crosby, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
The penultimate inflorescence. The glands (the crescent-shaped cyathia) are green at first, turning yellow, then, orangey to brownish. The horns are long. [On ssp. characias they are dark-red beetroot and the horns are short]. |
22nd April 2014, Blundellsands, Crosby, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
The terminal inflorescences are the youngest, so are not as ripe as the deeper ones. |
22nd April 2014, Blundellsands, Crosby, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
Three long styles emerging from the female flower (ovary). The stamens and anthers of the male are much shorter and can be seen LH lower corner and lower middle. |
22nd April 2014, Blundellsands, Crosby, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
A bird's-eye view of the centre. Immediately underneath each whorl of eight (or so) flower stalks is a whorl of eight or so rounded bracts. Each whorl is stacked upon the other with a spiral arrangement sometimes discernible from the view of the flowers themselves. |
22nd April 2014, Blundellsands, Crosby, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
The leaves occupy the lower half of the main stem, and are also in spiral whorls. The leaves themselves are long, narrow and hairy appearing grey-green from above. |
22nd April 2014, Blundellsands, Crosby, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
The leaves have short white appressed hairs on the upper surface. The underside of the leaf (left) is a yellower shade of pale-green. |
1st Aug 2013, Blundellsands, Crosby, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
Later in the season in Autumn new plants grow taller, with leaves only on the top part of the plant, with the lowest leaves dropping off in turn leaving the bottom part of the stem bare. |
1st Aug 2013, Blundellsands, Crosby, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
New plants grow in Autumn and will lack flowers until the year after. |
1st Aug 2013, Blundellsands, Crosby, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
The lower exposed half of partly leafy stems of new plants in Autumn can redden in strong sun. The notches are where leaves have fallen off. Note their spiral nature. |
Sub-species characias |
30th April 2013, Promenade Gardens, Grange over Sands, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
Like dancing ladies with frilly skirts. The flower-head seems to be narrower than ssp. veneta |
30th April 2013, Promenade Gardens, Grange over Sands, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
Your Author has no clue what these red objects are at the centre of the top whorl of inflorescences. |
30th April 2013, Promenade Gardens, Grange over Sands, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
The male flowers have two bifurcated anthers with yellow pollen on the ends. The female flowers have three longer bifurcated styles on the hairy ovary. |
30th April 2013, Promenade Gardens, Grange over Sands, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
The crescent-shaped ciathia differ from ssp. veneta in that they are dark-red/beetroot in colour, and have short horns (almost non-existent in these specimens). Note the inter-whorl bracts which are prominent. These have minute points. |
30th April 2013, Promenade Gardens, Grange over Sands, Cumbria. | Photo: © RWD |
The 'crescentic' objects here are velvety on this specimen (on the others they are glossy) - this may be the cultivar 'Portuguese Velvet' |
Uniquely identifiable characteristics Distinguishing Feature : This is an neophyte, a non-native species grown in gardens that sometimes escapes into the wild in the UK, particularly on waste ground and sites of old gardens. It is native to the Eastern Mediterranean. The stems are biennial, flowering in the second year. The stems, when broken, exude a milky sap which is both poisonous and a skin irritant, especially if the exposed area is subsequently exposed to the sun. Since ancient times it has been used as a cure for warts and other skin defects such as skin cancer or tumours. It is highly tolerant of dry conditions, and can also withstand high salinity, hence it thrives close to the sea at Blundellsands, on the Sefton Coast. There are two sub-species that were introduced and naturalised in the UK:
Many differing garden cultivars are sold. It is highly likely that the above represent at least one of these cultivars.
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Euphorbia | characias | ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ | Euphorbiaceae |
veneta |
sens. lat. |
characias |
Euphorbia (Spurges) |
Spurge Family [Euphorbiaceae] |