Perennial herbs, from a strong branching rootstock. Stems erect, simple or branched, glabrous, terete, 20-90 cm. Leaves alternate; petiole absent or short, 0.5-1 mm, glabrous; blade linear to linear-oblanceolate or linear-oblong (margins parallel or almost parallel at mid-leaf), 40-90 x 3-12 mm, venation inconspicuous, only mid-vein prominent, glabrous, base truncate or adruptly attenuate, apex acute or rounded, sometimes mucronulate, margin entire. Cyathia in leafy pleiochasial rays; peduncle absent or very short (less than 1 mm); terminal rays 5-17, 1-2 times bifurcated; ray-leaves similar but shorter and wider than the upper stem leaves; subcyathial raylet-leaves, widely ovate, rhombic or reniform, base cordate or cuneate, apex obtuse to rounded, mucronulate, margin entire; axillary rays 0-18. Involucre campanulate, 1.5-3.5 x 1.7-3 mm, glabrous; glands 4, crescent-shaped, 0.6-1.5 x 1.3-2.5 mm; horns present, divergent to convergent, 0.2-0.8 mm. Staminate flowers 10-25. Pistillate flower: ovary glabrous, styles 1.7-2.5 mm, bifid. Capsule subglobose, slightly lobed, cocci rounded, smooth, finely granular toward the dorsal line, glabrous, 2.5-3.5 x 3-4.5 mm; columella 2-3.3 mm. Seeds oblong-elliptic to oblong-ovoid, 2.2—2.6 x 1.3-1.6 mm, smooth, yellow-brown to gray or mottled; caruncle subconical, 0.6-1 x 0.7-0.9 mm.

Flowering and fruiting spring to fall.

Pastures, fields and waste places, railroads, open disturbed areas; 0--2200 m.

Native to Europe and temperate Asia and introduced to North America. We are treating this species here as the widespread, weedy, “leafy spurge” that is a pest plant across much of the northern parts of the FNA area. This species is similarly widespread and weedy across much of its native range in Europe and Asia, whereas the true E. esula is much more restricted in range and is never as pervasive and weedy as E. virgata in either its native range or the FNA area.