Euphorbia peplus
Petty spurge
(c) Jan Eckstein, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · licence
Family: Euphorbiaceae · Type: Herb · Not Native
Euphorbia peplus (Petty spurge) is a non-native California herb in the Euphorbiaceae family, recognized by erect habit and horned glands distinctive.
Petty spurge is a naturalized annual found in the Central Western California, Southern Sierra Nevada, and Desert regions in disturbed areas at elevations below 1,200 meters. Flowering year-round, this plant produces small, subtle flowers in leafy clusters with inconspicuous green-white coloration. Growing with erect stems 10 to 45 centimeters tall, it develops a delicate branching structure with leaves arranged alternately along the stem. Its leaves are obovate to oblanceolate, 1 to 3.5 centimeters long, with symmetric bases and obtuse tips, typically arranged in a distinctive whorl of three at the uppermost stem. The fruit is a small spherical structure approximately 2 millimeters wide with two-keeled lobes, producing white to gray seeds with a distinctive pitted surface.
Identification and appearance
Key characters: 39 sympatric species; erect habit and horned glands distinctive
Habitat and range
Habitat: Common. Disturbed areas
Elevation: < 1200 m
California counties: Los Angeles, San Diego, Kern, Ventura, Alameda, Santa Cruz, Orange, Riverside, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Bernardino, Sierra, Fresno, Santa Clara, Tehama, Santa Barbara, Shasta, Inyo, Tulare, El Dorado, San Mateo, Marin, San Joaquin, Butte, Mariposa, Sacramento, Yuba, Contra Costa, Sonoma, Napa, Humboldt, Mendocino, Lassen, Yolo, Stanislaus, Solano
Outside California: to Canada, eastern United States, native to Europe
Bloom period
Euphorbia peplus blooms All year.
How to tell it apart
vs Croton: Euphorbia bleeds milky white latex and packs its flowers into a tiny cup (cyathium) rimmed with nectar glands; Croton has watery sap, stellate or scaly hairs, and ordinary small separate male and female flowers.; vs Stillingia: Euphorbia flowers sit in a gland-bearing cyathium; Stillingia bears its flowers in a spike with a pair of glands flanking each subtending bract and has no cyathium cup.; vs Ditaxis: Euphorbia has latex and the cyathium; Ditaxis has clear sap, 5-parted petaled male and female flowers, and 2-forked (malpighiaceous) hairs.; vs Asclepias: Both ooze milky sap, but Euphorbia's minute flowers cluster in a cyathium and ripen into a 3-lobed capsule; milkweeds have showy 5-parted flowers with a crown and paired follicles of plumed seeds.; vs Polygonum: Prostrate mat spurges leak milky sap when torn and have paired stipules with opposite leaves at the nodes; knotweeds have clear sap and a papery sheath (ocrea) wrapping each node.
Frequently asked questions
Is Euphorbia peplus native to California?
No. Euphorbia peplus is not native to California (recorded as not native).
When does Euphorbia peplus bloom?
Euphorbia peplus blooms All year.
Where in California does Euphorbia peplus grow?
Euphorbia peplus occurs in Los Angeles, San Diego, Kern, Ventura, Alameda, Santa Cruz, Orange, Riverside and other counties, at elevations of < 1200 m.
What plant family does Euphorbia peplus belong to?
Euphorbia peplus is in the Euphorbiaceae family, genus Euphorbia.
What habitat does Euphorbia peplus grow in?
Euphorbia peplus grows in Common. Disturbed areas.
Related species
Other California species in the same genus, family, or bioregion.
Sources: Jepson eFlora · Index of California Plant Names · CalPhotos
Last updated 2026-10-07
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Cal-IPC, and more.