Common names: Petty Spurge, Radium Weed, Cancer Weed, Milk Weed
Taxonomic name: Euphorbia peplus
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Related herbs: Mole plant (E. lathyris), Cypress Spurge (E. cyparissias), Poinsettia (E. pulcherrima), African Spurge (E. resinifera), Pill Bearing Spurge (E. pilulifera), Asthma plant (E. hirta)
Area of origin: Everywhere except Southern Asia and the Americas
Parts used: sap (latex, milk)
Can be used medicinally for: skin cancers, liver spots, moles and skin tags
Healing Actions: corrosive
Taste: not applicable. Don’t try it!
Energetics: corrosive, hot, drying
Tissue states: hard, dry, cancerous
Organ/System affinities: skin
Healing constituents: diterpenoids (Ingenane-type 20-deoxyingenol and jatrophane), sterols (e.g., β-sitosterol), flavonoids (e.g., quercetin and kaempferol), sesquiterpenes, monoterpenes. Triterpene alcohols (obtusifoliol, cycloartenol, 9-cis-tricosene), a macrocyclic diterpene ester(Ingenol mebutate), diterpene ester (ingenol 3-angelate)
Contraindications and warnings: Do not get the sap in your eyes! Yes, I put that in bold for a reason. Do not ingest any of the plant and be careful where you apply the sap, maybe apply some ointment or vaseline around where you want the latex to go to prevent extra tissue damage where you don’t want it.
Drug/herb interactions:
Description
Petty Spurge is a soft, upright, green plant that only grows to around 40cm. It has one, upright, soft stem, with terminal and flowering stems.
Flowers are found at the end of stems but are very inconspicuous, being almost the same colour (greenish yellow) as the leaves and having no petals. The flowers are a structure called a cyathia, which is composed of several male flowers surrounding a single female flower (reminds me of humans at a nightclub!). The flowers have no petals
The soft leaves are pale green, soft and oval shaped and up to 25mm long.
The fruit is a very small capsule that contains black to dark brown seeds. I’ve not noticed it myself but descriptions tell me that the seeds can disperse ‘explosively’ when ripe.
Medicinal use
Don’t confuse Petty Spurge with other Euphorbias. Many Euphorbias have purgative qualities and can be taken internally with supervision. Petty Spurge is NOT one of those.
Petty Spurge (Euphorbia peplus) is a pretty little plant with a very specific talent. It is one of the premiere remedies for skin cancers! The milky sap has compounds in it that interfere with and kill rapidly growing cells, making it excellent for treating melanomas. You can use it topically to remove unwanted moles and skin tags. Used carefully, it can remove these unsightly growths. Petty Spurge also works to lighten liver spots.
Petty Spurge is so good at this job that it was called ‘Radium Weed’ here in Australia and ‘Cancer Weed’ elsewhere. It was called that because it is as good as the old cancer treatments that included radium. It works better than that horrid Black Salve that folks use because it doesn’t leave the craters and scars that that does.
Applying the sap (carefully!) to just the area in question, leave it as long as you can, then rinse it off. The area will become red, a little sore and maybe a little swollen. Do this for up to 5 days. Some sources recommend applying the sap twice a day but I’ve found that to be too much because it really irritates the area. Don’t apply it over too long a time, 5 days is enough. If there are no results, wait a couple of days and start the process again.
The area may scab over and that’s good. It’s just your body healing itself. Some folks have reported that other areas nearby become red and sore and investigation has shown these to be other carcinomas that may or may not be connected to the one being treated.
For liver spots, skin tags and minor blemishes, applying once a day for a couple of days is usually enough. Once again, be patient. I’ve burnt skin tags off in just 2 applications!.
If things get a little too red or sore for you, take a break and apply some soothing ointment or infusion of a soothing herb like Calendula, Chickweed, Mallow or Cleavers.
Preparing and using Petty Spurge
This is not a herb for internal use, in any form, so that makes it easy!
As mentioned above, topical application once a day fro up to 5 days, directly to the affected area and no more. Please read the above section ‘Medicinal Use’ a couple of times before you apply Petty Spurge sap to yourself, so you are sure of what you’re doing.
You can support the treatment with herbs with an anti-cancer reputation or ánti-neoplastic’ if you want to be flashy. This could be as simple as adding Green tea, Artemisia species, Ginger or Turmeric to your diet while treating yourself with Petty Spurge. You can research many more herbs that perform this function in their own ways but I like to stick to things easily available.
Don’t try to substitute any other Euphorbias fro the same purpose you are using Petty Spurge. Many of them have their own herbal properties but are not to be confused with this one and can cause irritation and allergic reactions if poorly selected.
Extra Warning:
Don’t take this one internally and keep the sap away from your eyes! The sap is very caustic. Do not apply it to mucous membranes of genitalia and don’t let it get on skin where it is not wanted.
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Other herb pages on Ligaya Garden
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