Low, bushy plant. Leaves very narrow, around an inch or two long. Leaves and sap exuce an irritating white milky sap when broken. Flowers yellow, in a terminal cluster. Technically what appears to be a flower is actually a cluster of simple male and female flowers surrounded by yellow bracts. Blooms in spring. The bracts often turn red or purple as the fruits mature.

Alien, introduced into the US in the 1800's for ornament; common in old graveyards. Likes gravelly disturbed areas like roadsides. Uncommon in Wildwood, along the Park southeast boundary, near the cell phone tower and watertanks.

A distinctive plant, unlikely to be mistaken for anything else.