Milk Purslane

(Chamaesyce maculata)

 

Color Photograph: Copyright Nearctica.com, Inc.

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Milk Purslane (Chamaesyce maculata)

Identification: Plant matted, trailing along the ground. Flowers complicated with both male and female flowers. Male flowers 3 to 5, reduced to almost nothing but a single stamen each. Female flower a round, three-part structure hanging from a flowerlike structure with white "petals". Stem thick, usually reddish. Leaves elongate-elliptical, dark green with a toothed outer margin, and commonly with red-purple spots.

Distribution: Throughout most of North America.

Habitat: Milk Purslane is a weedy species found along roadsides and in dry fields.

Flowering period: June to September.

Comments: This species has often been referred to as Euphorbia supina.

Milk Purslane (Chamaesyce maculata)

Similar Species:

The combination of the red stem, the hanging, round euphorbia-like flowers, and the purple, spotted elliptical leaves readily identify this species in most situations.

Similar Species

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