Flowering Spurge

© Nancy Goulden

Common Name: Flowering Spurge

Scientific Name: Euphorbia corrollata

Family: Spurge

Longevity: Perennial

Height: 1 - 3 feet

Bloom Period:
July, August, and September

© Nancy Goulden

Description: Stems are erect and diffusely branched above. Smooth margined, oblong leaves are alternate below and opposite above. Tiny flowers are surrounded by five, white, petal-like, cupped bracts.

Comments: A unique feature of the spurges is their “false” flowers. The apparent petals are really colored bracts. The flowers are tiny, borne in a cup-like structure and usually overlooked. The Christmas poinsettia, native to Mexico, is a spurge with showy, red, leafy bracts. Flowering Spurge blossoms attract mud daubers, paper wasps, spider wasps, flies and short-tongued bees. Seeds are eaten by Mourning Doves, Horned Larks and many other birds. Ants attracted to the edible appendage at the seed base help distribute the seeds. Flowering Spurge is found on upland prairies in the eastern half of Kansas.