Euphorbia maculata

Spotted spurge, Spotted Spurge

Family: Euphorbiaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Spotted spurge is a naturalized annual found in California's Central Valley and desert regions in disturbed places at elevations below 2,000 meters. Flowering from April to October, this plant produces tiny white to pink flowers in small clustered cyathia with scalloped appendages. Growing with prostrate stems that repeatedly fork and spread horizontally, it develops branches that are two-faced and softly hairy. Its opposite leaves are ovate to oblong, 4 to 17 millimeters long, often marked with a distinctive reddish spot and featuring fine teeth along the edges. The plant produces small, lobed fruits less than 1.5 millimeters long, with light brown seeds that have transverse wrinkles.

Habitat: Disturbed places

Bloom period: Apr-Oct

Elevation: < 2000 m

Bioregions: CA-FP, DSon

California counties: Shasta, Butte, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Trinity, San Bernardino, Orange, San Luis Obispo, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Kern, Glenn, Placer, Sacramento, Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Marin, San Francisco, Tehama, Contra Costa, Napa, Alameda, Siskiyou, San Mateo, Tulare, Inyo, Merced, Yolo, San Joaquin, Mendocino, Madera, Nevada, Monterey

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.