Consider-the-Lilies Web Gallery
Flowering Spurge
This delicate wayside wildflower is one of the lilies that I have been especially pleased to discover in my wanderings "over hill and vale."
It is not an impressive plant: Spindly in growth habit, from a shoulder-high perspective its tiny blossoms apparently are not worth bending one's knee to consider.
A closer look, however, revealed the understated charm of this miniscule wildflower.
Although I am pleased to display all sizes and shapes of lilies in the Gallery, it exists to share images of these little surprises in God's creation. Small in size and in coverage, this single Flowering Spurge plant was found growing right at my feet, as I strolled along the edge of a field with my dog.
As is my habit, I couldn't resist taking a closer look and, it was worth the popping of my creaky knees to better see this living exemplar of the lilies of the field.
Come see if you don't agree that it is no exaggeration to say of this native perennial that "even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."
It might be hard to gauge because I had left my trusty pencil at home that day, but this specimen is only ten inches high. The tricolor blossoms are less than one-quarter inch across.
The common name, spurge, is derived from the use of members of this plant family as a potent laxative in herbal medicine—Latin: expurgare = "to purge."
I was surprised to learn that these miniature blossoms do not have petals.
The white and green petal-like lobes are cyathia, specialized leaves that are found on all the members of the Euphorbia family.
You may be more familiar with them as seen in the more leaf-like red cyathia of the Christmas poinsettia (E. pulcherrima).
(Other flowers without petals in the Gallery are Pokeweed and Thimbleweed.)
The flowers are actually the standing yellow and brown elements in the center of the cup formed by the white and green cyathia.
But, "real" petals or not, in my opinion, the delicate blossoms of the Flowering Spurge are indeed pretty enough to put King Solomon to shame.
And, worth our consideration, don't you think?
Go to the Main Directory to consider more lilies of the field.