The Maltese spurge, tengħud tax-xagħri, an endemic which is only found on our islands, was first described in 1846 by the Italian botanist Filippo Parlatore (1816-1877). This plant, which is typical of the Maltese garrigue (xagħri) and scrub associations, and is known by the scientific community as Euphorbia melitensis. The term Euphorbia is derived from the name Euphorbus, the Greek court physician to Iuba II, a former King of Mauritania; while melitensis stems from the term melita, the ancient name for Malta.
The Maltese spurge is a dense rounded shrub of about 50cm to one metre in height, although it occasionally reaches heights of about two metres. Its small leaves are entire and lance-like. It is woody and much branched, with the new shoots being herbaceous at the tip and woody and stiff lower down. It bears separate male and female flowers which are tiny and inconspicuous. These are surrounded by cup-like bright yellow flower-bracts which bear along their margin a number of glandular scales.
The Maltese spurge usually flowers in March where, following fertilisation, a fruit consisting of a three-lobed spiny capsule is produced. Interestingly, as a protective mechanism against grazers (such as rabbits, sheep and goats), the shrub oozes a toxic milky-white when its tissue is damaged, making the plant inedible.
Interestingly, this shrub exists in various forms and heights, which may include very spiny and less spiny forms, as low shrubs of 30-50cm, or as taller ones reaching two metres in height. Due to this variation, different specimen of this same species were thought to be different species (which are however absent from the Maltese islands), until the flexible nature of this endemic shrub was scientifically confirmed.
Spurge garrigue characterised by this shrub is considered to be a habitat of importance across Europe, such that it is afforded protection both at local and at regional level. MEPA is contributing through the selection and designation of special areas of conservation which support such habitat type.
More information may be obtained by e-mail: nature.requests@mepa.org.mt.
The United Nations declared 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity. Malta, together with many other countries around the globe, is carrying out a number of initiatives to celebrate life on earth and the value of biodiversity for our lives. We are all invited to take action in 2010 to safeguard the variety of life on earth: Biodiversity.