Image – Wikimedia Commons / Frank Vincentz
The gender of euphoria it is very, very broad: there are annual and perennial grasses, shrubs, and even trees. Many of them are grown as ornamental plants, and although this is not the case with the Euphorbia segetalisis still something that could be changed 😉.
And it is that this species is small, in fact it does not raise more than two feet from the ground, and as it has very peculiar leaves and flowers, it sure would look great on the patio.
Origin and characteristics
Image – Wikimedia / Christian Ferrer
Our protagonist is a perennial or annual herbaceous plant (depending on the climate) popularly known as letrechezna fina or field spurge, native to Macaronesia, the Mediterranean, south central Europe, and it is believed to be native to the Canary Islands. Reaches a height of 10 to 40 centimeterswith more or less straight and glabrous stems. The oval-shaped leaves are long and thin.
The flowers are grouped in inflorescences composed of many broad leaves and bracts, and are yellowish in color. The fruit is a smooth capsule inside which we find small seeds.
Uses
The reality is that today none are given, but in the past it had very different uses: poison, laxative and antisepticeven as an anti-wrinkle »remedy».
Even so, I insist, it does not hurt to have it as an ornamental plant, as long as taking into account that its latex is toxic, so to handle it it is necessary to use rubber gloves if we do not want to have irritated skin.
What are your needs?
Image – Flickr / chemazgz
If you want to grow it, then I’ll tell you what its needs are:
- Location: it must be outside, in full sun.
- Earth:
- Pot: you can use universal growing medium, like this one they sell here! for example.
- Garden: grows in neutral or limestone soils.
- Irrigation: about 4 times a week in summer, and about 2 or 3 times a week the rest of the year.
- Subscriber: advisable to make monthly contributions of ecological fertilizers.
- Multiplication: by seeds in spring.
- Rusticity: resists weak frosts down to -2ºC. With those winters it usually stays as a perennial, but do not worry that if it is colder in your area, in a year it will have time to produce seeds since it grows and develops very quickly.
What did you think of Euphorbia segetalis?
