Weed of the Month: Painted spurge (Euphorbia cyathophora)

Invasive speciesWeedsHi TidingsEnvironment
Written By Angela Hoskins

This article was first published in Hi Tidings in July 2023.

Painted spurge weed

By Rae Wear (Rae is from the Native Nursery on Coochiemudlo Island)

This month’s weed is easy to identify because it resembles another member of the Euphorbia family, the Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima). Painted spurge grows up to a metre high, and the stems and leaves exude a toxic milky sap. The flowers are small, yellow-green and inconspicuous; the red petals are really leaves. It is native to tropical America and was probably introduced to Australia as a garden plant. Painted spurge likes disturbed sites and can be found in many of the sandy areas of Coochiemudlo’s Emerald Fringe.

Although easy to pull out, it multiplies quickly as seed capsules explode when mature and disperse new plants over a wide area.

More information about this weed can be found at Brisbane City Council Weed Identification Tool.

Native alternatives

Native alternatives to consider include the Sago bush (Ozothamnus diosmifolius), Thyme honey myrtle (Melaleuca thymifolia) or a trimmed red-flowering bottlebrush.

Angela Hoskins

Built my first site in 2000 and steadily learned what it takes to make websites work. Dabbled in WordPress back then, still do. Since building my first Squarespace site in 2016, I’ve been impressed with the relatively streamlined approach to website design and development that Squarespace offers compared to WordPress. SEO was a major challenge from the start — I’ve spent a lot of time keeping up with what’s required to get sites working, ranking well on a SERP. I have confidence with what Squarespace offers for SEO.

Having worked for more than 10 years in the web team of an inland, regional university in Australia and dealing with frustrations that come with working for a large corporate enterprise, the idea of setting up my own web design business became my goal.

Set up my business in late 2017. Opted for a sea change, too: I now live on Coochiemudlo Island 45 minutes from Brisbane. Love working from home. Love working for small business clients. Still get casual work with the university.

Challenges? The main one is pricing my work for small businesses. Doing quality work, doing the research to be up to date in the industry, takes time; it’s hard to factor in this time to my pricing while being competitive in the market and affordable for many small businesses.

https://sitecontent.com.au
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