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National Invasive Species Information Center
U.S. Department of Agriculture
  1. Home
  2. Terrestrial Invasives
  3. Terrestrial Plants
  4. Leafy Spurge

Leafy Spurge

Scientific Name

Euphorbia esula L. (ITIS)

Common Name

Leafy spurge, Wolf's Milk

Native To

Eurasia (Gucker 2010)

Date of U.S. Introduction

Early 1800s (Gucker 2010)

Means of Introduction

Introduced accidentally as a seed contaminant (Gucker 2010)

Impact

Crowds out native species (Gucker 2010)

Leafy spurge

Leafy spurge, seed heads

Credit

Photo by Norman E. Rees; USDA, Agricultural Research Service

Source
Invasive.org.

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Selected Resources

The section below contains highly relevant resources for this species, organized by source.

Council or Task Force
Partnership
Federal Government
State and Local Government
Academic
Professional
Citations

  • Gucker, C.L. 2010. Euphorbia esula. In: Fire Effects Information System. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory.

  • Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Euphorbia esula. [Accessed Sep 19, 2023].