The MGS Forum
Plant identification => Plant identification => Topic started by: Pauline on August 26, 2014, 09:26:10 AM
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Self-sown in my garden, and most welcome it is. It seems to have more rounded leaves and less variegation than other E. marginata I've seen. Wrong ID?
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v141/PaulineM/Garden/Euphorbia_zps1c94ea32.jpg)
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Pauline, you are not wrong, it is Euphorbia marginata
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Thank you!
Sorry for delay in saying so - have been away.
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It is a banned plant here because of it being SO dangerously poisonous. How dangerous is it? Any more so than other Euphorbias. I have seen it in the gardens of old Greek and Italian women but often local govt. officers 'request' that the offending plants be pulled up and taken to the dump. It is certainly impossible to buy as seeds or plants in nurseries here.
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I had no idea that Euphorbia marginata was more piosonous than other Euphorbia and grew it on occasions in England. Your comment Trevor that you see it in the gardens of old Greek and Italian women is interesting because it is grown here in Umbria quite a bit. Every time I happen to drive past a rather isolated old house not far from me I admire the display this plant provides - the rest of the "garden " being vegetables as is still very common in country areas here. Mental notes to myself to obtain some seed and grow it have always been forgotten and now I think perhaps that was for the best after reading your other comments re seed and pulling up plants. In what way is it considered more piosonous? - would ingesting some sap from ones fingers after handling it cause big problems for example?
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I had no idea that it was particularly poisonous either, but if we rooted out all the poisonous plants around here there'd be precious little left. All those Oleanders would have to go, for a start.
I had thought of Euphorbia more as irritantant than poisonous. (I have so many contact allergies I always garden in gloves and long sleeves anyway.)
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Euphorbias can be poisonous to both humans and other animals; I found some useful information at this site: http://research.vet.upenn.edu/PoisonousPlantsofPA/Euphorbia/tabid/5440/Default.aspx
which says: ‘ All species of Euphorbia can be expected to contain the complex esters believed responsible for poisonings and are probably capable of eliciting an allergic reaction. Reported deaths from Euphorbia poisoning are rare but livestock can be seriously affected.’
I don’t think E. marginata is more dangerous than any of the other species in this genus, and the severity of the toxins is not described as particularly high (toxins of E. marginata ‘causes only low toxicity if eaten. Skin irritation minor or lasting only for a few minutes’); oleanders are probably a lot more toxic. But it is a good idea to handle spurges with caution and avoid getting the sap on your skin, and especially keep in out of your eyes, since it may produce severe eye damage including permanent blindness.
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Recently while cutting back Euphorbia wulfenii, and wearing cotton backed gloves, because it was so hot and I was perspiring, I unthinkingly wiped the back of the glove across my face. Next day there were some blisters on my lips and chin. It looked and felt like a cold sore. I used a burn ointment with a mild anaesthetic and the discomfort passed in a couple of days. So it is a good idea to treat Euphorbia sap with respect as that would have been only a smear which I received.