SPECIES DESCRIPTION
UPHORBIA PLATYPHYLLOS
Common Names:- Broad-leaved spurge.
Synonyms:- Galarhoeus platyphyllus, Tithymalus platyphyllos.
Meaning:- Euphorbia (L) For Euphorbus, physician to the King of Mauritania.
Platyphyllos (Gr) Broad-leaved, with broad leaves
General description:- Erect, glabrous or sparsely pilose annual.
Stems:-
a) 15-80(-110) cm. tall.
b) lower part, becoming leafless, often reddish, with scars.
Leaves:-
a) narrowly elliptical to oblanceolate.
b) often patent or deflexed.
c) denticulate at least above.
1) Rays:
a) (3-)5, long.
2) Raylet:
a) leaves ovate-rhombic, yellowish-green.
Flowers:-
1) Glands:
a) transversely elliptical, entire.
b) yellow.
Fruit:-
1) Capsule:
a) 2.5-3 mm.
b) covered with hemispherical tubercles.
2) Seeds:
a) 2.0-2.2 mm.
b) smooth, somewhat glossy.
c) dark brownish-grey.
d) caruncle reniform.
Key features:-
1) Capsule covered with hemispherical tubercles.
Habitat:- Seasonally wet, nutrient-rich habitats by streams, in open woodland and
agricultural areas, (0-1100 m, occasionally somewhat higher on mainland Greece
Distribution:- Scattered in Greece, especially in the N.- Mediterranean. area, C
Europe & SW Asia; introduced in North & South America. Previously unrecorded
from Crete. Discovered by Christopher Cheiladakis October 2022 in the Akrotiri
area.
Flowering time:- May-Sept.
Photos by:- Christopher Cheiladakis