Family: Euphorbiaceae

Origin, Description & Uses
Euphorbia hypericifolia, commonly known as graceful spurge, is a low-growing, mat-forming plant native to Central and South America. It features delicate, narrow leaves and produces small, white flowers that create a fine, lacy appearance, making it popular in gardens and as groundcover in landscaping. Its compact growth habit and ornamental appeal have led to its introduction in many tropical and subtropical regions around the world.

Risks & Threats
Graceful spurge is naturalized across much of Hawaii, including Mokupāpapa (Kure Atoll), Kuaihelani (Midway Atoll), Kaua’i, O’ahu, Molokai, Lana’i, Kaho’olawe, Lalo (French Frigate Shoals), Maui, and Hawai’i. It possesses traits that raise ecological concerns, such as rapid growth, easy spread, and the potential to outcompete native plants in fragile island ecosystems. Because it is already established, it could further disrupt native plant communities and alter habitats.

High Risk Traits:

• Widely naturalized outside native range
  
• Weed of roadsides, waste places, and cultivation
  
• Congeneric species include aggressive invaders
  
• Reproduces by seed
  
• Annual (reaches maturity quickly)
  
• Dispersed unintentionally by humans, intentionally (medicinal use), and externally by animals (ants)

Low Risk Traits:

• No spines, thorns, or burrs
  
• No vegetative reproduction
  
• Not adapted for wind or bird dispersal