Euphorbia peplus – Cancer Weed (seed)

Description

Euphorbia peplus is a member of the Euporbiaceae family, also commonly known as petty spurge, radium weed, cancer weed or milkweed). Euphorbia peplus is native to most of Europe, northern Africa and western Asia, where it typically grows in cultivated arable land, gardens and other disturbed land.

Euphorbia peplus sap is toxic to rapidly replicating human tissue and has long been used as a traditional remedy for common skin lesions, including cancer, recalcitrant plantar warts, normal warts and sunspots. The active ingredient in the sap is a diterpene ester called ingenol mebutate. A commercailly available product is available from the Australian company Peplin Biotech.

Typically a piece of the plant is plucked off and the white sap that is exuded is then carefully dabbed onto the area to be treated, left to dry for a few minutes and then covered with a bandaid or tape. The area will then get red, scab up and sometimes get itchy before the scab falls and new fresh skin is exposed. Sometimes repeated application is necessary.

Care and Cultivation of Euphorbia peplus

Sow on or just under the surface of a quality seed raising mix or directly into the garden. Light may help with germination, so don’t sow too deeply. Keep moist until germination in 1-3 weeks; this can take considerably longer as the seeds are known to have a long viability of years to decades. Milder temperatures, between 10 – 20ºC help with germination. Full sun to part shade position. Up to 20-30cm tall. Euphorbia peplus will self seed readily, so keep contained if you don’t wish for it to spread. Take care when handling broken stems.

20+ seeds per packet