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Euphorbia cyathophora |
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| | The flowers may not be all that exciting to us, but they attract lots of pollinating insects |
| Synonym(s) |
Euphorbia heterophylla; Poinsettia cyathophora |
| Common name |
summer poinsettia |
| Family |
euphorbiaceae |
| Life cycle |
annual |
| Flowers |
orange bracts |
| Size |
2-3' |
| Light |
sun |
| Cultural notes |
ordinary garden soil |
From seed  |
germinate at room temperature. self-seeds moderately in our garden
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Self-sowing annual, which I'm always happy to see return. Even before it does its poinsettia thing, I enjoy the slightly glossy, interestingly cut leaves. These make them easy to identify in the garden, which is a good thing, because it seems to pop up in different places different years. It doesn't grow much until early summer, but then it climbs and fills out rapidly – so I do find myself selectively pulling some that get in the way of other plants. The bright orange-red leaf surfaces appear in August, alongside the flowers which aren't nearly as showy. A mass planting looks very festive in late summer! In years with cool summers, the seeds don't ripen, at least not on the majority of the plants I check – but somehow, some volunteers always emerge the next year.
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| | Seedling popping up in a driveway crack |
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We left this plant behind in our Pennsylvania garden (and wish it well); we don't grow it in Houston. One or more images of this plant are included in my stock photo catalog About my plant portraits
PlantLinks to other web pages about Euphorbia cyathophora
Visitors to this page have left the following comments| Heather | Feb 22, 2005 | Well, I used your information on a project so thank you for the usful tips. |
| Marcia Richardson, Texas Master Gardener | Aug 07, 2008 | I garden in Converse, Texas and one year his unusual plant just volunteered and came up in my yard. Some years it doesn't show up at all, but this year its in about 5 different places. I have extremely heavy alkaline soil and gosh awful heat, but it doesn't seem to mind and is flourishing. I would like to have this plant en masse somewhere in my landscape. I have searched for a long time to find out what the plant was, thanks for the information. |
| Marcia Richardson | Aug 18, 2008 | Rob, check out Texas Gardener Magazine (Sept.-Oct.issue), it has a big write up on euphorbias. (I just got my issue today). E. heterophylla is a taller plant but with much smaller infloresence and is found on the Texas Coast. E. cyathophora is a Hill County plant, featured at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.(This is the one that volunteered and came up in my back yard.) Your web page is great. M.R. |
| Bill Gerk | Nov 04, 2008 | Hi, I've been looking around for seeds or even plants of P. cyathophora. Any idea where one might purchase them? There is lots of info around on the Web about culture and distribution but I haven't been able to locate a store that sells the plants or seeds yet. Thank you and happy gardening.
Bill G.
I have some, but I have no way of getting in touch with you. |
| Michael | Aug 06, 2012 | the only place that i see these milkweed plants grow at are on
the west and south side of town and they are pretty far spread out
so im not sure how the seeds get spread out i don't know what kind of
birds eat the seeds or deer i know these plants will grow back if you
cut a full grown plant it will grow like a bush try it and you may like
how it looks |
| Michael | Aug 06, 2012 | and the milk from these is just nasty so don't try it
like i did because you'll be sorry that you did
it tasted bitter |
| Katie | Nov 13, 2017 | Although said to be invasive in some places, I love this 'pass-along' plant. Mine came from a landscape designer whose beds I weeded. I deliberately protect it's volunteer seedlings that appear in my garden. ( But then, I once planted bamboo, in my Front Yard!)Never saw this one for sale in any nursery. Due to rapid reseeding, maybe? Or perhaps on the Invasives List? Gets more or the yummy coral-y-'blue' orange on leaves that get adequate sun. A favorite in my cottage style garden here in Memphis.
Very few annuals that are not of the bedding variety ever make it to nurseries (for example, I can't remember ever seeing love in a mist, or larkspur, or even cosmos, at nurseries - those are typically seeded in place. I agree, they add a lot to a garden's charm, even if they can be a bit prolific. |
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