Intro: Erect perennial of dry upland woods and forests.
Stems: Stems 1-several, wiry, branching in the inflorescence, smooth (rarely hairy), sometimes with a white coating; exudes milky sap when broken.
Leaves: Leaves alternate (1 whorl below the inflorescence), short-petiolate to sessile, angled upward, linear-oblong, to 2 1/2 in. long, with prominent midvein, somewhat leathery, light gray-green to medium green and smooth.
Inforescence:
Flowers: Flowers (male and female separate) in an open, terminal panicle; white; 1/4 in. wide; consisting of 5 petal-like bracts and 5 green, glandular appendages at the bases of these bracts; male flowers with several stamens and female flowers with an ovary and 3-part style.
Fruits: Fruit a 3-lobed capsule on a drooping stalk.
Comments:
Height: 1 1/2-3 ft.
plant sale text:
bloom table text: Eastern flowering spurge is sometimes referred to as "native baby's breath" because of the dainty, delicate white flowers that bloom profusely atop slender, loosely branched stems in mid- to late summer. It thrives in average to dry soil and is fairly drought tolerant and disease resistant. The leaves and stems of this species contain a toxic milky latex that makes it resistant to herbivory from deer and other mammals.
description: Erect perennial of dry upland woods and forests.
stems: Stems 1-several, wiry, branching in the inflorescence, smooth (rarely hairy), sometimes with a white coating; exudes milky sap when broken.
leaves: Leaves alternate (1 whorl below the inflorescence), short-petiolate to sessile, angled upward, linear-oblong, to 2 1/2 in. long, with prominent midvein, somewhat leathery, light gray-green to medium green and smooth.
inflorescence:
flowers: Flowers (male and female separate) in an open, terminal panicle; white; 1/4 in. wide; consisting of 5 petal-like bracts and 5 green, glandular appendages at the bases of these bracts; male flowers with several stamens and female flowers with an ovary and 3-part style.
fruits: Fruit a 3-lobed capsule on a drooping stalk.
comments:
cultural notes:
germination code:
native range: eastern & central North America