Euphorbia cyparissias Clarice Howard - Spurge

The Euphorbia cyparissias 'Clarice Howard' is a particularly decorative variety of Cypress Spurge in spring, with its young shoots and feathery young leaves in a brown-purple color that form a beautiful backdrop for its bouquets of acidic yellow-green flowers. This perennial plant of dry terrains quickly forms a vigorous ground cover, producing a mass of very fine foliage in a blue-green colour in summer. Deciduous and very hardy, this prolific plant requires space, wild and exuberant companions, a very sunny exposure, and well-drained soil.

The 'Clarice Howard' Cypress Spurge belongs to the vast family of Euphorbiaceae. It is a horticultural form of Euphorbia cyparissias, native to southern, central, and western Europe, where it grows on cultivated land, along roadsides, and in fallow fields, in open terrain. This perennial plant that develops from a creeping stump emits numerous stolons that allow it to colonize the soil. It reaches a height of 30 cm (12in), 40 cm (16in) when flowering, and spreads over a minimum diameter of 80 cm (32in). The plant produces numerous herbaceous stems, colored Bordeaux at their tips, with fine brush-like young foliage in a similarly dark colour. The foliage colour evolves from purple in spring to blue-green in summer, and back to brown-purple in autumn. The floral stems appear between April and June, covered with narrowly linear brown leaves (1 to 3 mm (0in) in diameter and 1 to 4 cm (0 to 2in) in length), slightly curved. They bear umbels of petal-less flowers formed by yellow-chartreuse bracts that turn orange over time. The stems and leaves contain a milky juice that is sticky and toxic. The above-ground vegetation of this euphorbia is deciduous, drying up and disappearing in winter to re-emerge in spring.

The 'Clarice Howard' Cypress Spurge will find its place in a dry and sunny rockery, on a wild slope where it won't suffocate its neighbours. Indeed, it can be an invasive plant. It can be associated with other formidable ground covers such as Achillea crithmifolia, Stachys byzantina 'Big Ears', Georgia Blue speedwell, and Artemisia canescens. It will create beautiful patches of colour at the feet of shrubs and plants with dark foliage, such as 'Black Lace' elderberry, Berberis thunbergii Atropurpurea, purple sage, and tall sedums like 'Black Jack' or 'Chocolate'. Its aniseed flowering blends well with the blue of creeping rosemary and perennial flax.