Native Plants

Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

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Sunday - June 05, 2011

From: Dublin, GA
Region: Southeast
Topic: Herbs/Forbs
Title: Spotted spurge in Dublin GA
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

I noticed that you did not have a "Spotted Spurge", or "Chamaesyce maculata" listed. My Aunt asked me for help identifying it, until she remembered what it was.

ANSWER:

You are correct, while we have 18 other members of the genus Chamaesyce in our Native Plant Database, including 5 native to Georgia, we do not have that particular one. Some of them are referred to as "sandmat." All belong to the family Euphorbiaceae and many are still referred to as Euphorbia. You have to consider that the Native Plant Database is an ongoing work in progress and probably always will be. We searched the USDA Plant Database for Chamaesyce and found a list of 216 spurges. Chamaesyce maculata is one of these and you can follow the link to see a picture with a description and a map showing that it is native to Georgia.

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