Euphorbia paralias, the Sea Spurge,[1] is a species of flowering plant in the family Euphorbiaceae, native to Europe, northern Africa and western Asia.[2]
The species is widely naturalised in Australia.[3] It invades coastal areas, displacing local species and colonising open sand areas favoured by certain nesting birds.[4] Major eradication programs have been undertaken in some areas, for example by Sea Spurge Remote Area Teams in Tasmania, with great success.[5]
Description
E. paralias is an erect, glaucous, perennial plant, growing up to Шаблон:Convert tall. It has many stems, dividing into 3–5 fertile branches, each branching further. The cauline leaves (arising from the stem, without a stalk) are crowded, overlapping, elliptic-ovate (ovate toward the top of the stems), fleshy and Шаблон:Convert long. Leaves on fertile branches are circular-rhombic or reniform. The flower head is on a solitary cyathium, found in upper forks or at the apex, surrounded by bell-shaped bracts. Female flowers have styles that divide into two short stigmas, flowering from September to May. The fruit is a capsule, flattened from above or nearly spherical, with deep furrows, and wrinkled on keels. Seeds are ovoid, pale-grey and smooth. There is a kidney-shaped fleshy outgrowth from the seed coat.[6][3]
