Dog's Mercury

Common Name: Dog’s Mercury

Latin Name: Mercurialis perennis

Family: Euphorbiaceae (Spurge family)

Dog’s mercury is in the same family as many economically important plant species which grow in other countries, such as the rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis), which is the source of most of the world's natural rubber and the cassava (Manihot esculenta), an important starchy food in tropical regions.

Dog’s mercury is a poisonous perennial with rhizomes and different male and female plants. It is common throughout most of the British Isles in woods and shady places. Its presence is often an indication that the wood or hedgerow is very old, but it can colonise new deciduous woodland quickly. In the Yorkshire Dales National Park it forms extensive carpets in woodland, for example at Freeholders' Wood Local Nature Reserve in Wensleydale. It is also a common feature of hedgerows, particularly in limestone areas and grykes in limestone pavements.