Euphorbiaceae
This is the Euphorbia everybody knows. Euphorbia pulcherrima, a "weed" originally bought into the house as a Christmas decoration in Mexico, is now the most commercially important plant on the planet. Named for Joel Roberts Poinsett, who grew these in his South Carolina greenhouse. Commercially, the stems are infected with a phytoplasma, a plant tissue parasite, causing the plant to form multiple red "heads".
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Euphorbiaceae: Euphorbia Family
Many of the kitchen windowsill "cactus" are not a cactus at all but a Euphorbia or Spurge. Some Euphorbiaceae are tiny plants seen in cooler places like UK woodland; some are huge, African tree species that defy drought.
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Euphorbia corallioides
Coral Spurge
White sap, irritant. Height up to 0.5 metre.
About
Native to Italy, Sicily and Malta, first recorded in West Sussex. This one was growing under a hedgerow in Cuddington, Surrey. The seed was probably "sown" by a bird. Was the parent plant here or on the continent?
This plant is pretty, produces highly unusual flowers 12 months of the year and is tolerant of a little shade. Insects flock to it; I would say well worth growing.
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