Dwarf spurge
Euphorbia exigua
Family · Euphorbiaceae · Irritating
ToxicIrritant
The smallest and finest spurge you will find in a cornfield, with needle-like leaves and just a few centimetres of height. It has the same latex and the same rule as its larger cousins.
Where it grows
Fields and pasture · Roadsides and waste ground · Town and roadside
Also known assmall spurge
In flower
How to tell it
A tiny slender plant, blue-green, with narrow needle-pointed leaves. White latex even in a stem thin as a thread. Crescent glands with two horns, typical of the genus.
What it is confused with
Petty spurge
Euphorbia peplus
The leaf: broad and oval on petty spurge, needle-narrow here. Both with latex, both toxic.
Open sheet →What it is for
None. It is here for a practical reason: it shows that the latex warning applies to the whole family, even to members that look too small to matter.