Leafy Spurge

Introduced perennial from Europe. Reproduces by seed and underground root stocks. The creeping root stocks give rise to roots and shoots every few inches. Plants are bright green, 2/3 to 2 feet high, in bunches from wide-spreading roots, with milky juice. Stems are branched at top, very stiff and woody when mature. Leaves oblong, scattered, except the whorl of lanceolate or oblanceolate bractlike yellow leaves at the base of the umbel. Flowers very small, greenish-yellow or with brownish spots, have a dark line down one side and a yellowish appendage at the point of attachment, seeds are borne in a three-lobed capsule (3 seeds per pod). Flowers May to September and seeds June to August.