Euphorbia larica Seeds | Spurge

Spurge (Euphorbia larica) with green leafless stems and small yellow-green cyathia on stony ground — Spurge (*Euphorbia larica*): Euphorbiaceae, a green-stemmed desert shrub of Arabia and southern Iran with caustic latex.

LATIN NAME: Euphorbia larica

COMMON NAME: Spurge

Plant Profile

Euphorbia larica is a shrubby spurge of the Arabian Peninsula and southern Iran, one to two metres tall, with stiff, upright, green stems that carry tiny leaves only briefly. The flowers are small yellow-green cyathia at the stem tips, and the whole plant has the pared-back look of desert vegetation.

It grows on stony slopes and in wadi beds across Oman, the Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Iran, in country where rain may not come for a year. The green stems photosynthesise when there are no leaves, and the milky latex seals wounds and deters grazers. Old plants lose their lower leaves and show a bare, sculptural stem that is half the reason to grow it.

Science & Biotechnology

Euphorbia is one of the largest genera of flowering plants, with more than two thousand species and a remarkable range of forms, from annual weeds to cactus-like succulents. Euphorbia larica belongs to the Old World shrubby group, and its placement has been checked against both morphology and DNA.

The latex is the chemical story. Euphorbia resin contains diterpene esters that are powerful skin irritants and tumour promoters, and the genus has given medicine both ingenol mebutate, an approved treatment for actinic keratosis derived from E. peplus, and a long list of toxic hazards. Handling the sap without gloves is a mistake people make once.

Uses & Benefits

It has no crop value. In its range it is used in traditional medicine with great caution, and the latex is applied externally for warts and skin lesions by people who know it well.

In cultivation it is a collector’s plant for a dry bed or a large pot, valued for the architectural green stems and the small, curious flowers. It needs full sun and perfect drainage, and it should be sited away from paths where children and pets brush past. Water it once a month in summer and not at all in winter, and it will outlive most of the garden. It is slow from seed but long-lived, and a plant in the right place needs no attention at all.

Growing from Seed

Sow in spring into a gritty, mineral mix at twenty to twenty-five degrees, covering the seed very lightly. Germination takes two to four weeks, and the seedlings are small and slow for their first season.

Keep the young plants dry and bright, and pot them into a mix with at least half grit. Water sparingly in summer and hardly at all in winter. Wear gloves for every handling job, and wash any sap off the skin at once with plenty of water. Do not repot more often than every third year, since the roots resent the disturbance. Use a clay pot for the same reason.

Our Take

A desert spurge with real architectural presence and a genuinely dangerous sap. Grow it in full sun, in sharp drainage, and never without gloves. Site it once and leave it alone.

Herb Seeds