Wildflower Wednesday: Wild Poinsettia

Wild poinsettia is happy in a container in my wildflower garden.

I'm happy it's contained, too. Not because I wanted to keep it in check, quite the opposite, I wanted to make sure it survived. It's dry under the canopy of shagbark hickories and oaks and containers are one of the best ways I know to take care of special need plants. In my dry shady garden this is a special need plant.

Euphorbia cyathophora never fails to get a compliment and a second look when it begins to bloom in late summer or early fall. That's also when the innermost parts of each bract turn a vibrant red giving rise to the common name of fire-on-the-mountain. Those colorful bracts aren't to be confused with petals or leaves, although, they serve a similar function, to attract pollinators and protect the flowers.

The pretty leafy bracts with their fiddle shape and red bases give the plant its common names

Its tiny flowers are greenish-yellow and produce large, three-lobed green ovaries. Flowers are found at the top of the stem and grouped in a cyathia, which forms a cup like structure. You have to get really close to see the tiny nectary glands at the base of the cyathia, but ants and small pollinators have no trouble finding them. The alternately arranged leaves can vary in shape from linear to oblong to fiddle like, and may be lobed and/or toothed! (There will be a quiz at the end of this post;) The stems are thin, but, sturdy and like other Euphorbia family members contain a milky sap that is toxic. 

This under appreciated native's flowers are a siren call to small pollinators like this green bee.

If you garden for wildlife, you'll love that small insects, bees, butterflies and moths are attracted to the nectar and/or yellow pollen found in those small flower clusters. If you want to see some lovely photos of pollinator visitors check out Florida Wildlife Garden Tails.

Plants have to have more than a pretty face to be asked to live in this garden and Euphorbia cyathophora meets that requirement....it also has pretty foliage and a pretty flower face.

Nectares are a part of this flower

You won't be surprised to know I think it's far superior to those over bred Christmas poinsettias (Euphorbia pulcherrima). But, I see the flowers through my wildlife value screen!

I love this simple plant

I like Euphorbias. There are at least a dozen species in my neck of the woods. Some have more ornamental appeal like Euphorbia corollata, our Wildflower Wednesday star last August. Wooly Croton, Spotted Sandmat, Prairie Tea, Toothed Spurge and Cumberland Spurge, all Euphorbias that might show up in our gardens, aren't without their charms, but, most gardeners would call them weeds.

I don't know if you'll want to invite wild poinsettia into your garden, but, I hope you'll consider it a wildflower and not a weedy plant.

xoxogail

The particulars

Family: Euphorbiaceae (Spurge family)
Euphorbia cyathophora
Common names: dwarf poinsettia, fire-on-the-mountain, Mexican fire plant, painted leaf, painted poinsettia, painted spurge, painted-leaf spurge, poinsettia, summer poinsettia, wild poinsettia.
Type: Annual

Native range: AL, AR, AZ, CA, FL, GA, HI, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MD, MN, MO, MS, NC, NE, NM, OH, OK, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WI
Hardiness: Zones 4-10
Bloom: Late summer/early fall
Bloom Color:  Red-Orange  Chartreuse (Yellow-Green)
Soil: Moist to dry, well-drained, sandy soils
Exposure: Full sun to partial shade
Cultivation: sandy prairies, rocky glades, open or rocky woodlands, gravel bars along streams, fields, eroding banks, roadsides, areas along railroads, and waste areas. Wild Poinsettia prefers habitats with a history of disturbance.
Growth habit: 1-2+’ tall (possibly taller)
Propagation: Self-seeding-I let the seeds fall into the container, have not tried to collect them.  Comments: Wild poinsettia's interesting foliage provides a nice accent in a wildflower garden or native plant landscape. It looks best when massed and in bloom. It can be very aggressive as it readily self-seeds. Plant in container to control it.
CAUTION: The milky sap is toxic and can irritate the skin. Please keep children away from Euphorbias. Mammals don't browse it!

 

Welcome to Clay and Limestone's monthly celebration of wildflowers. Everyone knows that  I celebrate wildflowers every day, but, I wanted to have a big celebration every month, so that my wildflower loving friends from all over this great big beautiful planet could join in.

Wildflower Wednesday is about sharing wildflowers from your part of the world, they don't have to be in bloom. It doesn't matter if we sometimes show the same plants; how they grow and thrive in your garden is what matters most. I hope you join the celebration...It's always the fourth Wednesday of the month!



Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Wild Poinsettia, Fire-on-the-Mountain

Euphorbia cyathophora is a summer blooming native annual that has disappeared for the winter in my garden. Why, you may be asking, am I sharing this plant right now when it's no longer in bloom! Call it a counter balance to the ubiquitous Christmas poinsettia, Euphorbia pulcherrima, seen at every grocery store with the container wrapped in a garish foil and the petals too often sprinkled with glitter!

Believe me when I say that if Fire-on-the Mountain were blooming right now, I would pot it up and use it for my holiday decorations.

I am serious! It's a lovely over looked native!

I love this simple plant

I first met Wild Poinsettia when I was a kid living in Tampa Fl. It was growing in a weedy patch of uncultivated sandy soil on the side of our house, the red marked leaves caught my attention and must have made a lasting impression, because that memory came bubbling to the surface when I saw it growing in my friend Doris' garden a dozen years ago. She loves it, too, and generously shared seedlings with me. It's never made a grand statement like other plants, just pops up here and there surprising me every time when I see the fire red petals (bracts).

It's the innermost parts of each bract that turn a vibrant red from midsummer to frost. That's how it got its many names~dwarf poinsettia, fire on the mountain, fire-on-the-mountain, Mexican fire plant, painted leaf, painted poinsettia, painted spurge, painted-leaf, painted-leaf spurge, poinsettia, summer poinsettia, wild poinsettia. To me it's either Fire on the Mountain or Wild Poinsettia!

If you garden for wildlife, you'll love that small insects, butterflies and sphinx moths are attracted to the yellow pollen found in the clusters of small flowers (known as 'cyanthia') and that the Sphinx moths forage on the foliage!

source: Paul Rebmann UTK Herbarium*

I think you'll like them, too and maybe wish like I have been, that they were the Christmas poinsettia!

xoxogail

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.