No opinions, just a caution that Euphorbia sap causes a burn-like reaction for some folks, so if you decide to pull it, cover hands and arms well.

Babs, your wisdom is invaluable. Thank you!

Well, just dig up whichever ones you don't and then pull up the seedlings as they occur. The seedlings have a very distinctive appearance - they are two-leaved (before the true leaves emerge) and usually red in colour. I thought I had a photo but unfortunately I don't... (and I haven't done it in so long that I can't remember how to post photos here anyway!) The seeds are ejected some distance from the parent plant but I'm sure you'll soon come to recognize the seedlings.

And nhbabs' warning about the sap is absolutely correct - wear gloves for handling plants in this genus. (I can get away with bare hands for pulling seedlings, but not for any work that might mean coming in contact with the sap - I have caused myself blisters from contact!)

As a caution to all reading this the milky white latex-like sap of Donkey tail spurge "Euphorbia Myrsinitis" is cytoxic and it can kill dogs, cats and even children if the sap or parts of the plant is ingested. If the sap, even a single drop hits or smears on the skin or is even transfered from gloves, clothing, etc. to your skin or to your mouth or genitals or any other place on the skin you will have an EXTREMELY PAINFUL burning sensation. I know, because I just came back from the hospital because somehow a miniscule amount of the sap stayed on my hands after I washed them and got transfered to my face and around my mouth. The pain is excruciating. Far worse then poison oak, ivy or even stinging nettles. Unless you want to rope off the area and put up warning signs this is a bad idea to leave these in the garden. A single break in the plant will produce that milky resin and any pet that rubs on it or even a bit of clothing can transfer it to skin. If the white resin gets in your eyes or is transferred to your eyes it can cause blindness if not flushed and treated at a hospital with grave urgency. This is not a plant to take lightly. I'm actually on oxycodone to bring down the painful burning that's on my face right now and I never touched my face with my gloves, so only a tiny amount must have somehow transfered. The only way to remove this stuff is to digit out from underneath, not breaking any of the stems and lifting it into a secured plastic garbage bag and tieing it up. It's that nasty!

I
will continue to grow these wonderful plants - despite the fact that
in the last couple of years it seems I have developed a mild reaction
to them.

I
now simply use disposable gloves when cutting the spent flowering
stems.

Over
twenty years ago I had phytophotodermatitis from wild parsnip, and
continued to garden with other plants in the same family, so it is
unlikely that latex will keep me from growing any Euphorbia.

Having
said that, I will exercise caution and recommend others to do the
same.

I've gotten it on my skin a few times and it burns pretty bad but not if I immediately wash it off. It has to sit on the skin a while to burn it. I use this plant as a ground cover under a pin oak and elsewhere because it does so well in dry soil making an attractive low maintenance blue cover. I have to clean it out late in the season to get the dead stems etc but thats all. I wear dishwashing gloves and its no big deal to deal with the sap although knowing it will burn if left on the skin is definitely a good bit of info (otherwise you will soon learn the hard way like I did). Seedlings are a piece of cake to pull out and are good to have since it makes for free plants. Its not an offending plant and falls low on the scale of pest via seedlings.

On the other hand, I have some potted Euphorbia's that are the upright, cactus types that are not cold hardy. I'd be very careful with those because a cut stem can send sap squirting out and eye issues would be a concern. The thorns on some kinds keep you on the alert already and its not like a person is going to just start messing around with one once its potted up. These get quite big but make good potted plants that don't require maintenance really so its really not a problem with the sap.

I don't fear the low growing or leafier spurge types myself and just purchased a new variety from SRG.

I get itchier and more miserable dealing with some other plants, for instance, trimming the neighbors privet breaks my arms out in a mass of hives, maybe its a psychological reaction since I detest privet.

There are different levels of toxicity in the spurge family, but even the so-called poison spurge of Nambia, (e.damarana) although there are many human killing myths, in general, it presents a significant danger to the eyes and the usual skin irritants and is less lethal than aconitums, for example. Your username - maximum destruction, does suggest a certain level of hyperbole and I confess, I take the child-killing claims with a large pinch of salt.

It is instructive to actually note the number of common plants which have astonishing toxicity levels.

Last evening I was trimming a dead branch with a pole saw and got an eye full of 'sawdust'. I couldn't get it out and my eyeball was scratched. I'm finally out of the worst of the pain, last night was terrible but a trip to the doc could still be in order, I'm keeping my fingers crossed and still waiting to see. And this was from an innocent oak tree. Once I jumped off the ledge next door when I was cleaning and after stepping down without looking, almost impaled myself in an unmentionable spot. I would have been like a stuck pig on an old fence post. Last year I cut the tip off my little finger trimming liatris and did the same stupid stunt Saturday except this time a different finger from a different plant and the cut was further in so the tip didn't get cut off, just a lot of dripping blood. I still have a big knot on a finger with a sticker in it that hit the knuckle which looks awful and hurts like the blazes when I hit it, I'm hoping it eventually goes away. Once I got a pyracantha thorn in my elbow and had to get it x-rayed, $300 later they told me to take ibuprophen and that x-rays don't show wood. Really? It hurt for about two years if I bumped my elbow.

"The river, she has a thousand ways she can kill". I heard that line in a movie a long time ago. It was John Voight saying it but I can't remember the movie. The point is, there's all kinds of ways to hurt yourself in the garden.

TR I really hope your eye is OK. With any luck natural tearing should flush out the rest, however, I had the same thing happen with drywall dust and did have to go to the doctor. You can only put up with the eyeball scratch for so long.

Last fall I impaled my hand on Aconitum napellus. I told my DH and daughter that if I became disoriented or started to projectile vomit that perhaps I might need medical attention - then I went back to work lol! Apparently Aconitum is not lethal when being stabbed by it. We gardeners are a tough bunch.

Thanks peren.all. I think you have to eat the aconitum, thats how they used it in the Roman Empire. The eye feels much better and I think its going to be a doctor-less injury but I was worried real bad last night and could see a black spot right above the iris where 'the log was'. I have goggles and next time, I swear, I will wear them. I think I said the exact same thing last year when I whacked my finger but, there I was this last Saturday with my grass shears cutting back dying foliage and all it takes is one little mis-timed grabbing of the next plant. Its always the left hand getting cut and the right hand holding the shears. Stupid stupid stupid.

arrgh - the pyracantha - I stepped on a heap of it in the back of the truck and a thorn actually penetrated my boot into my foot - the grief, the pain, the infection, antibiotics blah blah...then the rose thorns (twice) which turned septic but worst of all - I believe I have already told this tale of woe- was staking the dahlias with an oldish bamboo cane. Leaning my full weight on it, the cane crumpled, snapped and stabbed me in the right breast (still have a little circular scar) but, in my haste to avoid falling on the dahlias, I threw myself sideways straight into the concrete coldframe, 2 front teeth - gone, just like that. I lay there wishing I was painlessly unconscious while the collie frantically licked my bleeding mouth and we both howled.

It was 'Deliverance' Tex - I confess, I also looked like a character in it myself after the tooth episode (Cletus, the cross-eyed yokel).

Camps, I looked it up. The movie was 'Anaconda'. He's said the line in a ridiculously melodramatic way, I have made use of it ever since I first heard it, like every time I get mauled, poked, cut, impaled, poison-sapped or in any other way injured in the garden. I didn't actually watch the movie, it was in the teaser ad and it made us both burst out laughing when we heard it. Its been part of the lingo around here ever since.

Loosing teeth trumps my little finger tip being whacked off. I could have have beat ya if I'd been impaled up the rear end but that was just a close call. Spandex was the only thing between me and the thin metal post.

The pyracanthas got the grundge every year and I hated trimming them, made my hand turn orange with slime. I took the whole row out. The tip of the thorn is still in my elbow.

Posting here hoping to help others - Euphorbia myrsinites is no joke. I repotted a new plant about 30 hours ago and obviously got some sap on my ahem berries. I woke up with intense pain and swelling - not to mention severe blistering. My skin in the effected area is now sloughing off in alarmingly large sheets. Not sure how long this will continue but it is truly horror movie stuff. Be safe.

Old post, I know but maybe new for some

And now and unpaid non-political announcement. Real Gardeners get their tenanus booster shots regularly. Especially garden warriors like Tex and Camp. If you are a gardener who impales herself on bamboo stakes (I have) cuts your fingertip off (on immersion blender while it was running) uses a reciprocating saw to divide plants or gardens barefoot get your tetanus shot updated. Don't let an ignorant nurse talk you out of it. Most people don't know that severe gardening involves sharp and pointed objects and many opportunities for puncture wounds to be topped off by manure

^^ Yes, absolutely get your tetanus booster!

Decided to pull up dead stems from the above plant, perhaps I would have been better carrying on with chucking out bits of “useful” stuff not used in 5 years in the garage. Anyway, the plant fought back by squirting me in the eye with its sap. The pain. OWWIIEE! Rinsed eye with water, have continued to do same today as well. It’s a swine! The dead stems I swept into garage to clear up once I can see properly again. The plant, it’s getting killed but I will definitely cover up and wear safety glasses.