Flower:

Short-stalked, petal-less flowers are single at the tips of branching stems and the upper leaf axils, with separate male and female flowers together in a structure called a cyathium. The female flower is at the tip with 3 spreading, split styles on top of a 3-sectioned round ovary covered in warty bumps. At the base of the ovary are 5 to 8 minute male flowers with yellow stamens.

Surrounding the short stalk is a bell-shaped set of fused bracts (involucre) less than 1.5 mm long, with 4 or 5 yellowish, oblong glands around the tip edge. All flower parts are hairless.

Leaves and stems:

Leaves are up to 1 inch long, finely toothed at least on the tip half, blunt to pointed at the tip, hairless, stalkless and typically yellowish-green. Lower stem leaves are alternate, generally spatula-shaped.

Leaves in the flowering branches are somewhat smaller and more oblong in shape. Flowering branches are forked with a whorl of 3 leaves at the base of the first fork and opposite leaves at the base of other forks. Stems are single and hairless.

Fruit:

The warty ovary expands to a 3-lobed, rounded capsule about 1/8 inch diameter. Inside are reddish-brown seeds up to 2 mm long, the surface textured with a fine network of veins.

Notes:

Warty Spurge is aptly named, and its warty fruits are unique to the Euphorbia species present in Minnesota.