Editing Euphorbia (section)

===Inflorescence and fruit===
[[File:EUPHORBIA.JPG|thumb|''Euphorbia'' [[Pseudanthium|false-flower]]]]
{{More citations needed section|date=May 2016}}Like all members of the family Euphorbiaceae, spurges have unisexual flowers.

In ''Euphorbia'', flowers occur in a head, called the [[cyathium]] (plural cyathia). Each male or female flower in the cyathium head has only its essential sexual part, in males the [[stamen]], and in females the [[pistil]]. The flowers do not have [[sepals]], [[petals]], or [[nectar]] to attract pollinators, although other nonflower parts of the plant have an appearance and nectar glands with similar roles. Euphorbias are the only plants known to have this kind of flower head.<ref name="EPBIA">{{Cite web|url=http://www.euphorbiaceae.org/pages/about_euphorbia.html|title=About the genus ''Euphorbia''|publisher=Planetary Biodiversity Inventory (PBI)|access-date=1 Feb 2019}}</ref>

Nectar glands and nectar that attract pollinators are held in the involucre, a cup-like part below and supporting the cyathium head. The "involucre" in the genus ''Euphorbia'' is not to be confused with the "involucre" in family Asteraceae members, which is a collection of bracts called [[phyllaries]], which surround and encase the unopened flower head, then support the receptacle under it after the flower head opens.

The involucre is above and supported by [[bract]]-like modified leaf structures (usually in pairs){{citation needed|date=August 2014}} called cyathophylls', or cyathial leaves. The cyathophyll often has a superficial appearance of being petals of a flower.

''Euphorbia'' flowers are tiny, and the variation attracting different pollinators, with different forms and colors occurs, in the cyathium, involucre, cyathophyll, or additional parts such as glands that attached to these.

The collection of many flowers may be shaped and arranged to appear collectively as a single individual flower, sometimes called a [[pseudanthium]] in the Asteraceae, and also in ''Euphorbia''.

The majority of species are [[monoecious]] (bearing male and female flowers on the same plant), although some are [[dioecious]] with male and female flowers occurring on different plants. It is not unusual for the central cyathia of a [[Cyme (botany)|cyme]] to be purely male, and for lateral cyathia to carry both sexes. Sometimes, young plants or those growing under unfavorable conditions are male only, and only produce female flowers in the cyathia with maturity or as growing conditions improve.{{citation needed|date=August 2014}}

The female flowers reduced to a single pistil usually split into three parts, often with two stigmas at each tip.{{citation needed|date=August 2014}}  Male flowers often have anthers in twos.{{citation needed|date=August 2014}}  Nectar glands usually occur in fives,<ref name="EF">{{Cite web|url=https://www.davesgarden.com/guides/articles/|title=Euphorbia "Flowers," an introduction to the amazing Cyathia|last=Stein|first=G.|date=22 Apr 2011|website=Dave's Garden|access-date=1 Feb 2019}}</ref> may be as few as one,<ref name= EF/> and may be fused into a "U" shape.<ref name= EPBIA/> The cyathophylls often occur in twos, are leaf-like, and may be showy and brightly coloured and attractive to pollinators, or be reduced to barely visible tiny scales.{{citation needed|date=August 2014}}

The fruits are three- or rarely two-compartment [[capsule (fruit)|capsule]]s, sometimes fleshy, but almost always ripening to a woody container that then splits open, sometimes [[explosive dehiscence|explosively]]. The [[seed]]s are four-angled, oval, or spherical, and some species have a [[Elaiosome|caruncle]].{{citation needed|date=August 2014}}