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Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

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Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

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Please forgive us, but Mr. Smarty Plants has been overwhelmed by a flood of mail and must take a break for awhile to catch up. We hope to be accepting new questions again soon. Thank you!

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Sunday - June 05, 2011

From: Dublin, GA
Region: Southeast
Topic: Herbs/Forbs
Title: Spotted spurge in Dublin GA
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

I noticed that you did not have a "Spotted Spurge", or "Chamaesyce maculata" listed. My Aunt asked me for help identifying it, until she remembered what it was.

ANSWER:

You are correct, while we have 18 other members of the genus Chamaesyce in our Native Plant Database, including 5 native to Georgia, we do not have that particular one. Some of them are referred to as "sandmat."  All belong to the family Euphorbiaceae and many are still referred to as Euphorbia. You have to consider that the Native Plant Database is an ongoing work in progress and probably always will  be. We searched the USDA Plant Database for Chamaesyce and found a list of 216 spurges. Chamaesyce maculata is one of these and you can follow the link to see a picture with a description and a map showing that it is native to Georgia.

 

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