Fresh Euphorbia, typical bloomers in beautiful colours.

EUPHORBIA
Typical bloomers in beautiful colours. The female blooms are in the centre and surrounded by a group of male flowers.This typical autumn flower is known for its milk juice. This is poisonous and can cause skin irritation, among other things. So be careful with it. In fact, of some species, the milk is so strong that it is used as poison by some peoples. Euphorbia (spurge) consists of about 2300 species, so it's quite a family!

COLOURS AND SHAPES
It is not only the milky juice that makes the flower very special, but also the mock flowers surrounded by bracts. You put these in a vase to enjoy to the full. They are known for this typical inflorescence. You can choose from different colours: yellow, orange, red and white.

SYMBOLIC
There is no real symbolism of spurge, but there are several stories about it. For instance, people used to be afraid that witches could come through cracks in the house. To chase them away, spurge was drunk and smeared on children's chests. Of course, you should never do this yourself.

ORIGIN
The Dutch name spurge obviously partly refers to the milk flowing from the stems. Spurge here means devil. It was once thought to be the causative agent of the poison. Euphorbia comes from Euphorbos, he was the physician of the Mauritanian king Juba II. This, in turn, is probably related to the cleansing properties of some species. The English name is therefore spurge, from to purge.