Sun spurge - Euphorbia helioscopia L. - Ευφορβία η ηλιοσκόπια - Cyprus

Euphorbia helioscopia (sun spurge) is a species of spurge native to most of Europe, northern Africa, and eastward through most of Asia.

Other old folk names include wart spurge, umbrella milkweed and "madwoman's milk".

It is an annual plant growing in arable land and disturbed ground. It grows to 10–50 cm tall, with a single, erect, hairless stem, branching toward the top. The leaves are oval, broadest near the tip, 1.5–3 cm long, with a finely toothed margin. The flowers are small, yellow-green, with two to five basal bracts similar to the leaves but yellower; flowering lasts from mid spring to late summer

It is highly poisonous. Active ingredients are extracted from it for use in pharmaceutical industry. It is also a plant used in the Chinese traditional medicine

E. helioscopia contains the jatrophone-type diterpenoids euphoheliosnoid A, B, C[6] and D and other toxic diterpenes such as euphoscopins, epieuphoscopins euphornins, cuphohelioscopins and euphohelionone.

Four esters of 12-deoxyphorbol (12-Deoxyphorbol-13-phenylacetale-20-acetate, 12-deoxyphorbol-13-dodec-dienoate-20-acetate, 12-deoxyphorbol-13-[2-methyl-cis-2-butenoate].-20-acetate and 12-deoxyphorbol-13-[2-methyl-cis-2-butenoate]) can be isolated from the fresh aerial parts. These substances are the major skin irritants found in the plant.

m-Hydroxyphenylglycine and 3,5-dihydroxyphenylglycine are two amino acids that can be isolated from the latex of E. helioscopia.

Hydrolysable tannins can be found in E. helioscopia. Helioscopinin A (1,6-(S)-hexahydroxydiphenoyl-2,4-(S)-dehydrohexahydroxydiphenoyl-3-O-galloyl-β-D-glucose), helioscopinin B (1,6-(S)-hexahydroxydiphenoyl-3-O-galloyl-β-D-glucose), helioscopin A (1,6-(S)-hexahydroxydiphenoyl-2,4-(R)-elaeocarpusinoyl-3-O-galloyl-β-D-glucose) and helioscopin B (1,3,6-tri-O-galloyl-2,4-(R)-elaeocarpusinoyl-β-D-glucose) can be found together with the 8 other tannins corilagin, punicafolin, geraniin, elaeocarpusin, furosin, terchebin, mallotusinin and carpinusin. Helioscopinin-A shows anti-allergic and anti-asthmatic activities in guinea pigs. It is suggested that this compound exerts its activities through antagonism on leukotriene D4-induced responses
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Η Ευφορβία η ηλιοσκόπια είναι φυτό της οικογένειας των Ευφορβιοειδών. Είναι μονοετές φυτό με μέγεθος μεταξύ 10 και 50 εκατοστών. Το όνομά της το οφείλει στον Διοσκουρίδη, που την ονόμασε έτσι λόγω της ιδιότητάς της να στρέφεται προς τον ήλιο. Είναι πολύ διεσπαρμένο φυτό στον μεσογειακό χώρο. Η περίοδος ανάπτυξης και ανθοφορίας του φυτού είναι μεταξύ Φεβρουαρίου και Ιουνίου. Το φυτό είναι δηλητηριώδες και αυτό αποτελεί το μέσο άμυνάς του απέναντι στα φυτοφάγα ζώα. Από τη Βικιπαίδεια, την ελεύθερη εγκυκλοπαίδεια
Photos Apostolos Antreas 12/3/2016  by George Konstantinou