Wood spurge is a  common plant of woodland margins and rides and wooded hedgebanks in Wales and central and southern England1. . It is a smallevergree herbaceous perennial which produces yellow-green flowers in spring.  The leaves become darker in winter.
 
It was first recorded botanically in Britain by Turner in 15622. . Local names recorded by Grigson include Deer’s Milk, Devil’s Cup and saucers, and Virgin Mary’s Nipple3. The first name refers to the milky sap, the other two names allude to the small saucer-shaped flowers.
 
This plant is easy to grow in a fertile humus-rich soil in dappled shade. Like all members of the genus Euphorbia it has a caustic milky sap which can irritate skin and eyes. You are advised to wash your hands after handling it, or wear gloves. Two cultivars are commonly sold.  A form with particularly dark red leaves has been named variety ‘purpurea’ and is commonly sold in garden centres although plants more or less resembling this form are not uncommon in wild populations. E. amygdaloides var. robbiae has broader, darker leaves than the wild form and is excellent ground cover under trees where little else will grow.  It carries both the RHS award for Garden Merit.
 
This plant is visited for its nectar by hoverflies and other flies. It has also been recorded as a typical forage plant of a number of mining bees in the genus Andrena4. . The Biological Records Centre records 18 species feeding on it including the less than gaudy drab looper Minoa murinata.
 
References
 
1.  Stace, C. 2010.  New Flora of the British Isles, Third Edition. P. 311.
 
2.  Pearman, D. (2017). The Discovery of the Native Flora of Britain and Ireland, Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland. P198
 
3. Grigson, G. 1995. An Englishman’s Flora. P228.
 
4. Falk, S. 2015. Field Guide to the Bees or Britain and Ireland. Pages 118 – 162.
 
5. See the Biological Record Centre database
 
 
Page written by Marc Carlton.  Compiled by Steve Head
 
 
Wood Spurge Euphorbia amygdaloides
 
Family – Euphorbiaceae, Spurge family
Evergreen herbaceous perennial – up to 40 cm tall c40cm spread
Flowering – March to May
Soils -  Neutral to alkaline
Position – Partial to full shade
For cultivars
Wood Spurge Euphorbia amygdaloides
 
Family – Euphorbiaceae, Spurge family
Evergreen herbaceous perennial – up to 40 cm tall c40cm spread
Flowering – March to May
Soils -  Neutral to alkaline
Position – Partial to full shade
For cultivars
Wood spurge is a  common plant of woodland margins and rides and wooded hedgebanks in Wales and central and southern England1. . It is a smallevergree herbaceous perennial which produces yellow-green flowers in spring.  The leaves become darker in winter.
 
It was first recorded botanically in Britain by Turner in 15622. . Local names recorded by Grigson include Deer’s Milk, Devil’s Cup and saucers, and Virgin Mary’s Nipple3. The first name refers to the milky sap, the other two names allude to the small saucer-shaped flowers.
 
This plant is easy to grow in a fertile humus-rich soil in dappled shade. Like all members of the genus Euphorbia it has a caustic milky sap which can irritate skin and eyes. You are advised to wash your hands after handling it, or wear gloves. Two cultivars are commonly sold.  A form with particularly dark red leaves has been named variety ‘purpurea’ and is commonly sold in garden centres although plants more or less resembling this form are not uncommon in wild populations. E. amygdaloides var. robbiae has broader, darker leaves than the wild form and is excellent ground cover under trees where little else will grow.  It carries both the RHS award for Garden Merit.
 
This plant is visited for its nectar by hoverflies and other flies. It has also been recorded as a typical forage plant of a number of mining bees in the genus Andrena4. . The Biological Records Centre records 18 species feeding on it including the less than gaudy drab looper Minoa murinata.
 
References
 
1.  Stace, C. 2010.  New Flora of the British Isles, Third Edition. P. 311.
 
2.  Pearman, D. (2017). The Discovery of the Native Flora of Britain and Ireland, Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland. P198
 
3. Grigson, G. 1995. An Englishman’s Flora. P228.
 
4. Falk, S. 2015. Field Guide to the Bees or Britain and Ireland. Pages 118 – 162.
 
5. See the Biological Record Centre database
 
 
Page written by Marc Carlton.  Compiled by Steve Head
 
 
           Garden Wildplants
        Garden Wildplants