{"id":563,"date":"2025-08-03T02:26:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T02:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/survivalfoodplants.com.au\/?post_type=product&#038;p=563"},"modified":"2025-08-04T00:20:06","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T00:20:06","slug":"radium-weed","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/survivalfoodplants.com.au\/index.php\/product\/radium-weed\/","title":{"rendered":"Radium weed"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p><strong>Botanical Name: <\/strong>Euphorbia peplus<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h3><b>How to Grow It<\/b><\/h3>\r\n<p>Radium weed (<i>Euphorbia peplus<\/i>) is a <b>small annual herb<\/b>, rarely growing more than 30\u202fcm tall, with soft green stems and oval leaves. It pops up readily in gardens, especially in disturbed soil, and is often treated like a weed \u2013 but it\u2019s a plant well worth knowing.<\/p>\r\n<p>Native to <b>Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia<\/b>, it has spread widely and is now found across <b>temperate and subtropical regions<\/b> of the world, including much of Australia. It loves <b>full sun to part shade<\/b> and <b>moist, friable soil<\/b>, though it will self-seed and survive almost anywhere that isn\u2019t too dry.<\/p>\r\n<p>Plant it in <b>spring or autumn<\/b> by simply sprinkling the tiny seeds \u2013 they germinate easily and you\u2019ll often find it popping up on its own. It\u2019s a short-lived plant, but it drops seed freely, so once it\u2019s in your garden, it tends to stick around.<br \/><br \/><\/p>\r\n<h3><b>Herbal &amp; Nutrient Value<\/b><\/h3>\r\n<p>Radium weed is not a \u201cnutrient plant\u201d you eat \u2013 in fact, it\u2019s <b>not edible<\/b>. What makes it valuable is its <b>caustic, milky sap<\/b>. Traditional folk remedies have used the sap for generations to burn off warts, sunspots, and other skin blemishes. Advocates claim it will kill skin cancers (do your own research).<\/p>\r\n<p>Modern science has caught up: the plant contains a compound called <b>ingenol mebutate<\/b>, which has been developed into a prescription cream for treating actinic keratoses (a type of pre-cancerous sun damage). It\u2019s powerful stuff, which means it must be handled carefully \u2013 it can burn the skin and irritate the eyes.<br \/><br \/><\/p>\r\n<h3><b>Using It in the Kitchen<\/b><\/h3>\r\n<p><b>Important:<\/b> Radium weed is <b>NOT for the kitchen<\/b> \u2013 it is <b>toxic if eaten<\/b>. The sap is caustic and can cause serious irritation if it gets in your mouth or eyes. Instead, its \u201cuse\u201d is entirely medicinal and external, and should be treated with the same caution as a pharmaceutical product.<br \/><br \/><\/p>\r\n<h3><b>Other Uses<\/b><\/h3>\r\n<p>Radium weed\u2019s value is entirely medicinal. The sap has been used traditionally to remove warts and skin growths, and it\u2019s now studied and used in <b>modern dermatology<\/b> for certain skin conditions.<br \/><br \/><\/p>\r\n<h3>Why it&#8217;s a survival plant<\/h3>\r\n<p>From a survival perspective, it\u2019s a plant worth recognising and keeping around in a corner of the garden. It grows easily, self-seeds, and can be a handy <b>emergency remedy<\/b> plant \u2013 but always treat it with respect, and wear gloves when handling it.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Radium weed is a humble little garden plant with a big reputation. Known for its potent sap, it\u2019s been used in traditional remedies for skin blemishes for generations \u2013 and modern science is now backing up some of those old-time uses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":564,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":100,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":""},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[38,48,42,44],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-563","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-cooler-climate-plants","7":"product_cat-medicinal-plants","8":"product_cat-pot-and-container-plants","9":"product_cat-shade-loving-plants","11":"first","12":"instock","13":"shipping-taxable","14":"product-type-simple"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/survivalfoodplants.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/survivalfoodplants.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/survivalfoodplants.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/survivalfoodplants.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/survivalfoodplants.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/survivalfoodplants.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/survivalfoodplants.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=563"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/survivalfoodplants.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=563"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/survivalfoodplants.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}