Euphorbia corollata flowering spurge
Characteristics
Descriptions
Light Requirements
Soil Moisture
Soil Description
Height
Recommended Spacing
Bloom Time
Bloom Color
Hardiness Zone
Description
Euphorbia corollata is a charming native spurge that adapts itself to a range of conditions. Also known as flowering spurge, it has small, white panicles of blooms atop single stems. The habit is open, and when in bloom, the stems will nod under the weight of the flowers. The flowers (1/4" across) have tiny yellow centers, with a circle of green surrounded by five white petals. These petals are actually bracts—small, leaflike structures that sit below the actual flower. Euphorbia corollata is monocieous, with separate male and female flowers occuring on the same plant. The leaves are light gray- to medium green and narrow (1/2" wide). They have a distinctive pattern of being alternate up most of the stem, with a whorl of three or more leaves just below the inflorescence. The foliage contains a toxic, white sap is that characteric of the genus, so be careful when handling. Euphorbia corollata occurs throughout most of Eastern North America. It's a plant that is competitive because it does well in poor, dry soils, making it a great choice for edges of beds, sidewalks, driveways, and parking medians.
Cultivation
Euphorbia corollata occurs in wide range of habitats, from disturbed areas like roadsides and railroads, to rocky uplands, to black soil prairies. Its ability to withstand poor soils gives it a leg up in plant competition. In managed landscapes, it does best in full sun with average to dry soils, although it can do okay in partial sun. It develops a deep taproot and has excellent drought resistance. Flowering spurge is tough, but it appreciates welll-drained soils to help avoid disease problems.
Recommended Spacing
Space plants 12"-18" on center.
Euphorbia corollata's habit is relatively narrow—with single stems that branch only at the very top. But it will nod over when in full bloom, so spacing at least 12" apart will give some space for that. To give it more breathing room and reduce disease pressure, space further apart at 18", especially in humid climates.
Companion Plants
Combine flowering spurge with Liatris aspera (tall blazing star), Eyngium yuccifolium (button eryngo), Monarda bradburiana (eastern beebalm), Symphyotrichum sericeum (western silver aster), Symphyotrichum oblongifolium (aromatic aster), Dalea purpurea (purple prairie clover), Bouteloua curtipendula (sideoats grama), Schizachyrium scoparium (little bluestem), and Sporobolus heterolepis (prairie dropseed).
Additional Notes
Sometimes referred to as "native baby's breath," flowering spurge attracts bees, wasps, flies, and butterflies with its nectar and pollen. The seeds provide food for wild turkey, quail, and other birds. Because of its toxic sap, it's deer resistant, and other mammals rarely browse it.
The common name "spurge" derives from espurge, Middle English/Old French, meaning "to purge." It refers to the plant sap's use as a purgative. The eponymous generic name is for Euphorbus, a Greek physician (r. 30 BC – 25 BCE) who wrote about a succulent plant similar to Euphorbia. The specific epithet means "with a corolla," and most likely refers to the ring of green around the center and/or the showy white bracts surrounding the flowers.
Pricing & Availability
Note: Early spring shipments might include plants that have not yet broken dormancy, or have not been vernalized and will be frost-tender. Please use your best judgment when selecting your preferred ship week.
Why choose plants from the nearest grower? Choosing a the grower closest to you makes it more likely the plants are consistent with your ecoregion and better adapted to your location. In addition, shipping plants shorter distances typically uses fewer resources, something we can all get behind!
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Maps, Wetland Status & More
MAP OF NATIVE RANGE
Recorded County Distribution: USDA data.
Native To
| AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, VA, VT, WI, WV, FL, LA, TX |
Legal Status
Wetland Status
MAP OF WETLAND DELINEATION REGIONS
Interpreting Wetland Status
|
Code |
Status |
Designation |
Comment |
|
OBL |
Obligate Wetland |
Hydrophyte |
Almost always occur in wetlands |
|
FACW |
Facultative Wetland |
Hydrophyte |
Usually occur in wetlands, but may occur in non-wetlands |
|
FAC |
Facultative |
Hydrophyte |
Occur in wetlands and non-wetlands |
|
FACU |
Facultative Upland |
Nonhydrophyte |
Usually occur in non-wetlands, but may occur in wetlands |
|
UPL |
Obligate Upland |
Nonhydrophyte |
Almost never occur in wetlands |
Classification
| Kingdom | Plantae | Plants |
| Subkingdom | Tracheobionta | Vascular plants |
| Superdivision | Spermatophyta | Seed plants |
| Division | Magnoliophyta | Flowering plants |
| Class | Magnoliopsida | Dicotyledons |
| Subclass | Rosidae | |
| Order | Euphorbiales | |
| Family | Euphorbiaceae | Spurge family |
| Genus | Euphorbia | spurge |
| Species | Euphorbia corollata | flowering spurge |
SCIENTIFIC SYNONYMS:
Agaloma corollata
Euphorbia marilandica
Plant Sizes
Sizes info
Shipping & Planting
SHIPPING INFO:
Shipping is free on all plants orders!
Your plants will ship using each grower’s preferred method: FedEx Ground, UPS Ground, or Spee-Dee Ground (in select midwestern states). Our growers ship orders Monday through Wednesday. The farther your plants need to travel, the earlier in the week they will ship. The goal is to have all plants delivered by the end of the week.
Shipping plugs:
Plugs are shipped in full flats, sometimes also referred to as trays. Multiple flats can be shipped in a single box. The flats are wrapped in netting or craft paper to secure the plants, and spacers are used between flats to keep the plants from being crushed.
When you unpack your plugs, the plants will have been somewhat flattened by the netting or craft paper. They will straighten out within a couple of days. You may also gently “fluff” them a bit to speed up the process. In some cases, your plants might have been cut back before packing, if the grower deemed them to have become too tall for safe packaging. Don’t worry, though, these guys know what they’re doing and would not compromise the health of the plants. They’ll fill back in in no time.
After receiving your plants’ journey in a dark box, it will be important to acclimate them to sunlight again. Over a couple of days, you should gradually move them into their preferred light exposure, and water them as per their requirement.
Although we always recommend putting your plants in the ground as soon as possible, they can stay healthy in the flats for a considerable amount of time. The key is to respect their growing requirements: if the species requires full sun, do not store them in the shade. If it is best adapted to dry soil, do not over-water.
PLANTING INFO:
Planting plugs:
We consider plugs ready to ship when the plants’ roots have filled the entire liner cell and the plants can easily be pulled out. In some cases you will have to go about it gently, wiggling the plant by the crown, and possibly squeezing the bottom of the liner to compress the growing medium and release the roots. Other times, the plants will appear to be root bound. They are not in the traditional sense. The plants are healthy but they have used up all the growing medium available to them. Plugs are at an aggressive stage of growth. As soon as planted the roots will immediately expand into your native soil. They establish faster than plants in larger containers, because they don’t have the luxury of a lot of growing media that can inhibit the roots from venturing outside of their comfort zone.
We are not going to address area preparation because the process can be complex and is always site-specific. However, as a rule, we recommend disturbing the soil as little as possible, and we do not recommend amending the soil. If you chose the right plant for the right conditions they will thrive. Any disturbance and amendments will only encourage weeds to emerge that never had a chance to do so before.
Installing plugs cannot be easier: dig a hole large enough for the roots to fit snugly inside, then water them in to eliminate air gaps. We recommend using a soil knife, sometimes referred to as hori hori, or a drill-adapted auger if it’s a large installation. If you use an auger, you will need a powerful drill. Depending on the size of the project and the type of soil, the process can be beyond what an average drill will bear. Mulching is recommended after installation to help keep weeds down while the plants establish. Be sure to keep it away from the crown of the plants. For large projects, you may want to mulch the area before planting, rather than tiptoeing through it after the fact. As a side note: if you are installing plugs in the fall, you might want to plant them so that the crown is about ¾” lower than the surrounding soil. The winter’s freeze/thaw cycles can push plugs out if the roots did not have enough time to establish and anchor them in.