''Euphorbia peplis'', the purple spurge, is a species of ''

Euphorbia ''Euphorbia'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants, commonly called spurge, in the family (biology), family Euphorbiaceae. Euphorbias range from tiny annual plants to large and long-lived trees, with perhaps the tallest being ''Eu ...

'', native to southern and western

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, northern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, and southwestern

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, where it typically grows on

coast A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

al sand and shingle.Blamey, M. & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). ''Flora of Britain and Northern Europe''.

Description

A small, prostrate, hairless

annual plant An annual plant is a plant that completes its life cycle, from germination to the production of seeds, within one growing season, and then dies. Globally, 6% of all plant species and 15% of herbaceous plants (excluding trees and shrubs) are ...

, the stems growing to long, typically with four stems from the base. The

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

are opposite, oval, long, grey-green, somewhat fleshy, reddish-purple veined, with oblique bases and a somewhat curved and wavy shape. Fruit capsules hairless, containing smooth 3mm seeds.

Habitat

Sandy sea-shores, rarely inland.

Range

Shores of the Mediterranean, Black, Caspian and Red Seas, Persian Gulf, Ireland
PoWo Map
At the northern edge of its range in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, it has always been rare, and is now

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

.Pearman, D. A. & Preston, C. D. (2002). The last British record of Euphorbia peplis. ''BSBI News'' 91: 25.

References

External links

* * peplis Flora of Africa Flora of Asia Flora of Europe Flora of Lebanon Halophytes Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Euphorbia-stub