Plant ID please

[cloughie100]

What is this plant? Is it easy to propagate?

It's a Euphorbia - probably E. characias v. wulfenii. I guess propagation would be by division, but care needs to be taken as the sap is an irritant, and stems bleed easily if damaged.

What overall shape is the plant? To me, it looks like euphorbia mellifera, which grows into a tall, rounded plant, whereas wulfennii is a more upright collection of stems. Mellifera smells of honey on warm days, which also helps to identify it. It self seeds prolifically.

Thank you - it’s the mellifera - it does smell lovely at times . I never realised it was a euphorbia.

I agree E. mellifera. As Ibiza says, it grows easily from seed. I throw away seedlings every year - they keep popping up in plant pots.

Have you looked closely at the flowers? Fascinating structure. The seed pod grows on a little stalk from the centre of the "flower" and hangs down looking like a medieval weapon, and another flower stalk grows from the centre of the old "flower".

Except that even when you've ignored the bracts and think you've got to the flower, what you are seeing is the "cyathia" with separate male and female flowers in it - which is why the fruit ends up on a stalk. See here for a good explanation davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/3208

I had a similar experience. I bought a seedling at a plant sale without realising how big the plant would eventually get. For years I was digging up seedlings (and donating them to other plant sales), even for a few years after the main plant expired (probably of frost). It's fascinating to see how long seeds can remain dormant - I've just found a seedling of leycesteria formosa several years after the parent plant died.