Crops Caper spurge (Euphorbia lathyris)

Summary Information



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Caper spurge is naturally a biennial herb, with a deeply-penetrating taproot, and may grow to a height of 1 m or more. The main stem is stout but hollow, growing vertically to near the apex of the plant: there are four rows of dark green, narrow, pointed leaves arranged in a cruciform pattern up the stem. Side branches may also develop up the stem in the same manner, giving the plant an 'architectural' appearance. Before maturity, most plant parts contain a milky latex which is poisonous and contains some compounds which may be carcinogenic.

Flowering head

During the second year, the complex floral structures develop at the ends of the main stem and branches; individual flowers are small and petal-less, but additional flowers are produced from within the bracts (specialised leaves) of the earliest flowers, this pattern being repeated many times.

Unripe seedpod

Seeds

The flowers are succeeded by the 3-capsuled pods, which in wild types burst open explosively when ripe to release their seeds. Breeding and development work in Germany have produced types which are more suitable for agriculture, being annual and also retaining their ripe seeds, but several agronomic problems remain, particularly that of harvesting and threshing the mature seeds without damaging them and so causing loss and denaturing of the oil.