Botany Photo of the Day

In anticipation of another discussion about invasive species, I've posted a response to the previous discussion on the matter.

Certain rules may apply to art, but it seems the one who is brave enough to break a rule is the one who inspires us. Thank you for the photography links. I enjoy them.

Caution! E. myrsinites is a toxic Euphorbia. Depending on an individual's reactivity, it can cause mild to severe dermatitis of the skin and particularly of the eyes. It's highly advisable to wear gloves and eye protection when handling this plant.

Currently in quite a bit of pain (face & eye) owing to dermatitis from this plant. Had no idea what the plant was until looking it up. Definitely agree with wearing protection when handling. When stems are broken lots of white sap drips out.

Pretty nasty stuff, Andy. Hope you recover without too much pain.

i too have had a nasty encounter with this plant.
while trimming i got some milk on my fase ,washed immediately ,but must have missed my ear,woke up
with plisters.ouch!

This plant is highly toxic!! A few neighborhood kids and my two sons got into this plant the day before late yesterday afternoon, and actually wiped the white milky substance all over each other, using the plant as a sword. (don't ask. . . ) I had no idea until the next morning that they had gotten into this plant or I would have insisted they taken showers before bed. Both my sons and the other children woke up with blisters, redness, puffiness where the substance had touched their skin, including a burning sensation. My oldest son looked as if he had a second degree sunburns on his face and around his eyes. He is very lucky that the milky substance didn't destroy is eye. We contacted their doctors and treated them with benadryl and cortisone cream which has helped. If the regiment of benadryl and cortisone cream didn't work, we would have had to be put on certain medication, however that was not necessary. After two days of treatment my kids look much better, however they still have signs of blisters and redness. We are now making sure the blisters don't turn into secondary infections. This plant may be pretty to look at, but I highly suggest that you find another plant to plant in your yard. In my opinion it should not be used at all as a landscaping plant.

*wince* Makes me hurt thinking about it. Yes, pretty much all Euphorbia species should be avoided in gardens where there's a chance children might play with the plants.

Ditto on the skin irritation. We keep our myrtle spurge in a large clay pot, which keeps it contained. Yesterday, I decided (after not messing with it for MANY years)to clean up the dead stems and cut off the dying flowers. I noticed the milky sap - lots of it - but it wasn't until I went inside to wash it off my arms and legs that I discovered how sticky it was and how resistent to soap and water. Today I spent the Fourth of July indoors because of the painful rash that has ingulfed both forearms and a few other spots I must have touched. OUCH! I'm using antihistamines and Cortaid lotion, which are definitely making it tolerable. Lesson learned about milky sap (latex!) the hard way.

I have trimmed up this plant many times in my garden and recently experienced the rash. I then today got a shot of it in my left eye---------PAIN! My eye is on fire still after 6 hours! I went to the ER and had it irigated and also numbing drops/vicodin for the pain. I am still awake hours later dealing with the pain! Nothing has touched it. I am sitting here with an ice pack on my eye in the middle of the night!! I will go to my eye doctor first thing but I have learned my lesson! Eye protection and gloves is a must when handling this beautiful plant in the future. Please take my advice!

I'm searching the net for helpful treatment suggestions, so here's my story: this plant was in the courtyard of my condo in Utah, I didn't know what it was and indeed, in trimming it back the milky white latex like juice got on my hands, and even after I thought I had it all cleaned up (any suggestions on the best solvent to get it off as soap and water doesn't do it?) I also used the alcohol based waterless hand cleaner which seemed to remove the stickiness a bit... but somehow I managed to rub my eyes - my husband was fixing hatch chili peppers in the kitchen, so I figured it must have been that I got pepper oil on my hands and in my eyes, but after flushing my eyes for over an hour off and on, they finally stopped making tears, but then the burn expanded to around my eyes and inside my nose - total pain time over 4 hours plus. It wasn't til this morning that I thought about that plant being the culprit as the backs of both hands had small rashes and I started to look for the spurge info through wikipedia, not knowing what it was it took a while to use key words to try to figure out the plant name!

My eyesight seems ok, any longer term effects or once it's subsided it's done? Thanks to all who posted previously for the info. I will also be wearing full disposable protection to remove this from the courtyard! and will tell people who may not know what it is, how dangerous it can be. Wish someone had alerted me BEFORE I got into it!

Trimmed this plant and experienced a feeling of being repelled. Lots of milky sap. Then my eye starting burning and wouldn't stop for about 8 hours. Called poison control and ended up at the emergency room, where they numbed the eye with drops. The skin around my eye looked and felt like it had been burnt.Still have burn marks on my skin (very faint) after 10 days. This plant appeared in my garden in Columbus Ohio about 3 years ago. I liked it because it stays green all winter. Carmen from Poison Control is trying to figure out how it got here and has trouble believing that it stays green all winter. We think it might be invasive, any comments welcome!

Oh my. I am a mess. My whole face looks and feels like I have been burnt. I thought at first I had come into contact with peppers I was cleaning up in the garden. I had NO idea that the milky stuff in that "cool looking plant" was the culprit. I KNOW I didn't smear it all over my face. I washed my hands well. This stuff is toxic!!!! It has taken me a while to track down this information. I don't wish this on anybody!

Me too! So pleased to find this site where people have shared experience because it took me a while to discover why my index finger tip was throbbing with blisters like a toxic battery acid burn three days after pruning euphorbias . I have grown many euphorbia varieties in my New Zealand garden for the past ten years and never had such a bad reaction. Thanks for sharing everyone. Maybe the plant is growing in toxicity? I have pruned it for years without consequences like this .

I just found this site.Thank you all for your postings. I to have just tangled with what I was thinking was a garden love, beautiful bloom , evergreen in the northwest, didn't even mind trimming her after the bloom, but.... i feel like i just tangled with a demon.. not even realizing that i had sap on me, my eye started burning running my nose started huting and stopped up . i too showered rinsed my eyes with soap and water and and still wow wee!!!!