Euphorbia hypericifolia (commonly known as graceful spurge, golden spurge, and chickenweed) is a species of perennial herb in the genus Euphorbia native to tropical Americas. It normally grows up to 2feet in height, and contains milky sap which can cause skin and eye irritation.[1] [2]
Plant hairless on all parts, stems generally about 50 cm (rare outliers to 170 cm), obviously arching, few to many, with flowers and fruit capsules as conspicuous dense balls held a distance from the stem (FNA). (Confusion with other species such as E. hyssopifolia/nutans may occur where the balls have few flowers in which case they will lack interspersed leaves.)
The plant is native to Tropical Americas like most Euphorbias, the place where it is native includes Southern most parts of U.S, Mexico, West Indies, Central and South America.[3]
The places where this plant is an introduced species includes Spain, Italy, Greece, Indian subcontinent, China, South Korea, Myanmar, and parts of Indonesia as well as Subsaharan Africa.[4]
According to James Mooney, the Cherokee Indians made use of the juice from this plant to cure skin eruptions.[5]