Mediterranean spurge
Euphorbia characias
Family · Euphorbiaceae · Poisonous
Read this before the sheet
This plant, or one that resembles it, is dangerous. Identifying is not authorising: no app has the authority to tell you that you may eat or touch a plant.
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The clump of upright stems with yellow-green heads that fills banks in spring. Break any part and thick white latex flows, which burns skin and blinds if it reaches the eyes.
Scrubland · Roadsides and waste ground · Walls and rocks · Montado
Also known asAlbanian spurge
How to tell it
Immediate white latex from any cut, the signature of the whole family. Narrow bluish leaves in a tight spiral, and cup-shaped green inflorescences with a dark centre.
What it is confused with
No dangerous lookalikes known in the Iberian Peninsula.
What it is for
None. The rule for every Iberian spurge: white latex means keep your hands off your face and wash. Never cut this plant without gloves.