State Noxious Weed List - Yes

Growth form - Long-lived perennial spreading by both root and seed. Normally grows 2 to 3 feet tall from a woody crown. Leaves are alternate, bluish-green about 2 inches long and 1/4 inch wide.

Showy yellow bracts appear in May and early-June, but the true flowers are small and green and do not develop until mid-June.

Seed pods contain three gray-brown, oblong, smooth seeds that mature in mid-July.

Leafy spurge contains latex throughout the plant that can be an irritant, emetic, and purgative. Most livestock avoid grazing the plant until late fall when the latex disappears. However, sheep and goats will graze leafy spurge.

The plant is found throughout North Dakota on all soil types, mostly on non-cropland. Each plant can annually spread up to 15 feet laterally by root.