Loading AI tools
Species of plant From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Euphorbia peplus (petty spurge,[1][2] radium weed,[2] cancer weed,[2] or milkweed),[2] is a species of Euphorbia, native to most of Europe, northern Africa and western Asia, where it typically grows in cultivated arable land, gardens and other disturbed land.[1][3][4]
| Euphorbia peplus | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Malpighiales |
| Family: | Euphorbiaceae |
| Genus: | Euphorbia |
| Species: | E. peplus |
| Binomial name | |
| Euphorbia peplus | |
Outside of its native range it is very widely naturalised and often invasive, including in Australia, New Zealand, North America and other countries in temperate and sub-tropical regions.[1]
It is an annual plant growing to 5–30 cm (2–12 in) tall (most plants growing as weeds of cultivation tend towards the smaller end), with smooth hairless stems. The leaves are stalked, oval-acute, 1–3 cm (0.4–1.2 in) long, with untoothed margin. It has green flowers in three-rayed umbels. The glands typically of Euphorbia are kidney-shaped, and have long thin horns.[4]
var. minima has stems low, ascending, branchy, leaves roundish, seeds smaller 1-1.4 mm (vs. 1.3-1.6 mm of var. peplus),[5] predominantly countries on the north edge of the Mediterranean (PoWo Map)
The plant's sap is toxic to rapidly replicating human tissue, and has long been used as a traditional remedy for common skin lesions.[6] The active ingredient in the sap is a diterpene ester called ingenol mebutate.
A pharmaceutical-grade ingenol mebutate gel has approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for treatment of actinic keratosis.[6][7][8]
In Germany, recent studies have linked Euphorbia peplus with the virtual elimination of squamous cell skin cancer.[9]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
