Spurge spicy

Plants 30-80 cm tall, bare or sometimes pubescent , glaucous.

Root creeping, fine-cylindrical, branched, with long offspring. The root system extends from the base of the plant to a depth of 8 m and along the soil surface up to 5 m, while giving numerous shoots ^[2] .

Stems are erect, round, banded, bare, at the top with 1–23 thin, often curved, axillary peduncles 1.5–7.5 cm long, below with densely leafy, subsequently extending non-flowering branches .

The lower leaves are dry-membranous, scale-like, stem sessile or barely petiolate , from a gradually narrowing base narrowly obverse-lanceolate, 2-7 cm long, widest in the upper third, 2-8 (13) mm wide (the length is mostly 7 —12 times the width), blunt or often short-pointed, often sharply protruding median vein, entire, with a slightly curved, sometimes thickly wavy edge, the leaves at the apex often jagged, soft, sticking as a result, bare, above the dull-green, bottom bluish, bottom horizontal ots they are well-formed or even downward curved, often on short petioles, upper upward directed, on non-flowering branches 7-20 mm long and 2-2.5 mm wide.

The apical peduncles in the number (6) 8-13 (14), 1.5-6 cm long, as well as axillary - simple or at the end once or twice bifid. The leaflets of the wrapper are linear-lanceolate or oblong-ovate, only occasionally quite similar to the stem leaves, 1-3 cm long, 1.5-3.5 mm wide (3-9 times as long as wide), pointed; two folded leaflets, of a truncated or broadly ovoid base, rhombic-ovoid or triangular-reniform (width more than often 1½ times wider, rarely more than 2 times wide, lower 5-9 mm long and 8-17 mm wide), short pointed; bell-shaped goblet, 2-2.5 mm long and in diameter, with short, truncated, fringed blades. Yellow or green nectaries , later turning brown, short-horned, often almost hornless. The columns are 1―1.5 mm long, downward by about ¹ ⁄ ₆ lengths fused, at the top by ¹ ₃ dissected.

The fruit is an ovoid triochnique, 2.5–3.5 mm long, 2.8–3.8 mm wide, deep-triangular, bare, with rounded, slightly wrinkly-tuberous lobes on the back. Seeds 2―2.3 mm long, 1.8 mm wide, ovoid, yellow-brown, smooth, with a clearly visible yellow, reniform caruncle . Seeds of high germination and remain viable in the soil up to seven years. Bolls burst, and the seeds are scattered up to 5 m from the plant itself, in the wild they can be further spread by water ^[2] .

The species is described from Western Europe (Germany, Belgium, France).

It is found in Europe : Denmark , Finland , Austria , Belgium , Czechoslovakia , Germany , Hungary , Poland , Switzerland , Bulgaria , Yugoslavia , Italy , Romania , France (including Corsica ), Portugal , Spain ; in the territory of the former USSR : Belarus , Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania , Moldova , the European part of Russia , Ukraine (including the Crimea ), the Caucasus ( Armenia , Azerbaijan , Georgia , Ciscaucasia , Dagestan ), Western Siberia , Eastern Siberia ( Buryatia , the environs of Irkutsk , Krasnoyarsk ), Central Asia ( Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan , Tajikistan , Turkmenistan , Uzbekistan ); in most parts of Asia : Afghanistan , Iran , Iraq , Turkey , Mongolia , China , Korea ; in North America (as an alien): USA , Canada ; South America (as an alien): South and the Hawaiian Islands (as an alien) ^{[3] [4] [5]} .

It grows in meadows , in light forests , along pebble and sandy river banks, along roadsides and in crops, especially on loamy soil.

In Ciscaucasia, the Volga region, and Kazakhstan, it is one of the weeds of crops ^[6] .

Spurge spike was introduced to the United States of America, possibly with seeds of other plants, at the beginning of the 19th century. First registered in Massachusetts in 1827. Acute Euphorbia spread quickly and reached North Dakota for about 80 years. Now distributed in the greater northern part of the United States. Most often found in Montana , North Dakota, Nebraska , South Dakota and Wyoming . It is considered a malicious weed in eleven northern states. The US Department of Agriculture is classified as an aggressive plant ^{[2] [7]} . It was also introduced to Canada and South America. ^[3] .

Euphorbia acute displaces all plants that inhabit the prairies and fields, shading them and taking moisture and nutrients, as well as releasing toxins that inhibit the growth of other plants ^[2] .

Because of their resilient abilities and the ability to grow from the smallest part of the root, sharp spurge is extremely difficult to destroy. Biological control measures provide very promising tactics to combat this weed. In Idaho , goats were used for this purpose, which nibble acute euphorbia without any harm to themselves ^[8] . The US Department of Agriculture has shown success in using six European species of insects, including the drilling hole in its roots of the beetle Oberea erythrocephala and four root-eating beetles of the Aphthona genus of the leaf beetle family, and the midge Spurgia esulae ^[2] .

The terrestrial part contains coumarins , flavonoids : quercetin, rutin, hyperin, and quercimeterin ^[9] .

Euphorbia gives green paint ^[10] .

Euphorbia bicolor and Gmelin in Altai is considered a good feed for rabbits ^[9] .

Medical Use

Euphorbia acute is used in traditional medicine for the treatment of benign and malignant tumors. Ointment from the roots of euphorbia acute is used for external tumors . Milky sap plants externally remove warts and corns , and in a mixture with sulfur they treat leishmaniasis and scabies . Alcohol herb extract has antileukemic activity ^[11] .

In Mongolia, in folk medicine, the euphorbia root of the bicolor “Alag suut uvs” is used as a laxative for various diseases. Folk healers have noted that diseases such as liver echinococcus, cyst and venereal disease can be cured by this plant ^[9] .

In Western Siberia, euphorbia bicolor is used internally for a wide variety of diseases: as a blood-purifying, for pneumonia, tumors, peptic ulcer, as a tonic, for severe general diseases, attributing to it an action similar to ginseng , but it is considered preferable for removing warts and corns ^[9] .

In Germany, thrush euphorbia is used as a laxative ^[6] .

There are two subspecies and one hybrid species ^{[3] [5]} :

• Euphorbia esula subsp. esula - The widest leaves at the top; bracts 5–15 mm. It is found in the entire range of distribution.
  • [ syn. Euphorbia borodinii Sambuk - Euphorbia Borodina] ^[12]
  • [ syn. Euphorbia discolor Ledeb. - Euphorbia bicolor]
  • [ syn. Euphorbia glomerulans (Prokh.) Prokh. - Euphorbia crowded] )
  • [ syn. Euphorbia gmelinii Steud. - Euphorbia gmelin]
  • [ syn. Euphorbia mandshurica Maxim. - Manchu Euphorbia]
  • [ syn. Euphorbia pseudagraria PASmirn. - Euphorbia, plotic field]
  • [ syn. Euphorbia rossica PASmirn. - Euphorbia Russian]
  • [ syn. Euphorbia zhiguliensis (Prokh.) Prokh. - Euphorbia Zhigulevsky]
• Euphorbia esula subsp. tommasiniana ( Bertol. ) Kuzmanov - Eastern Europe , Western Asia .
  • [ syn. Euphorbia jaxartica (Prokh.) Krylov - Euphorbia Syrdarya]
  • [ syn. Euphorbia uralensis Fisch. ex Link - Euphorbia Ural]
  • [ syn. Euphorbia virgata Waldst. & Kit. - Spurge Lozny]
  • [ syn. Euphorbia waldsteinii ( Sojak ) ARSmith - Euphorbia Waldstein]
• Euphorbia esula nothosubsp. pseudovirgata ( Schur ) Govaerts is a hybrid between two previous subspecies.

• Prokhanov Ya. I. Genus 856. Euphorbia - Euphorbia // Flora of the USSR : 30 tons / started with hands. and under ch. ed. V.L. Komarov . - M. L .: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR , 1949. - V. 14 / ed. volume B. K. Shishkin , E. G. Bobrov . - p. 419-420. - 790 s. - 4000 copies
• Dannikov N. I. Healing is possible. Collection of recipes and recommendations of traditional medicine for the treatment and prevention of malignant and benign tumors. - M .: Ripol-Classic, 1997. - p. 358-359. - 624 s. - ISBN 5-87907-067-0 .
• Rychin Yu. V. Weed plants. The determinant for the middle zone of the European part of the USSR. - M .: GUPI Ministry of Education of the USSR, 1952. - p. 158. - 280 p.
• Weed plants of the USSR. Guide to the definition of weed plants of the USSR / Bot. Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the Institute of Plant Industry ASKN them. Lenin. - L .: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1934. - T. III. - p. 268-269. - 448 s.
• Gubanov I.A. and others. 867. Euphorbia borodinii Sambuk - Euphorbia Borodina // Illustrated determinant of plants in Central Russia. In 3 t . - M .: T-in scientific. ed. KMK, In-t technologist. Ex., 2003. - T. 2. Angiosperms (dicotyledons: otloplepestnye). - p. 522. - ISBN 9-87317-128-9 .
• Gubanov, IA and others. 875. Euphorbia virgata Waldst. et kit. [ E. esula L. pp, E. waldsteinii (Sojak) A. Radcliffe-Smith] - Euphorbia, or twig-shaped // Illustrated determinant of plants in Central Russia. In 3 t . - M .: T-in scientific. ed. KMK, In-t technologist. Ex., 2003. - T. 2. Angiosperms (dicotyledons: otloplepestnye). - p. 530. - ISBN 9-87317-128-9 .

• Electronic Catalog of Vascular Plants in Asian Russia: Acute Euphorbia (Verified October 21, 2009) }