ABSTRACT
Family with over 10,000 species, classified into about 300 genera, of which in the Romanian flora, only 38 spontaneous species belong to three genera: Mercurialis, Chamaesyce, and Euphorbia. The species of this family are distributed across all continents, with the majority being present in regions with a warm climate. These plants are herbaceous, annual, biennial, or perennial; in other regions, they can be woody, and at times, cactiform. The stems are thick, round, or angled, containing milky latex that is irritant, blistering, and toxic. The leaves are simple or compound, with entire or dentate margins, arranged alternately or opposite, reduced to scales or transformed into spines in plants with cladodes or phylloclades. The flowers are unisexual, mostly monoecious, rarely dioecious, actinomorphic, grouped in various cymose inflorescences, sometimes specific (cyathium). The floral envelope may be absent or simple, rarely forming a perianth. Male flowers have from 1 to numerous free stamens (rarely filaments are fused or branched), while female flowers have a superior gynoecium composed of 3 carpels with a trilocular ovary. The fruit is a capsule that opens into 3 valves, separating from the central axis into 2–6 monospermous nuts (more rarely a berry or drupe). The seeds, smooth or reticulate, often with a caruncle, are rich in fatty oil. The embryo is straight and has broad, flat cotyledons. 1 - 3
