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Euphorbiaceae FAMILY

Mercurialis perennis

Mercurialis perennis

Edibility
0/5
Medicinal
1/5

Safety & Hazards

All parts of the plant are poisonous[1, 2, 3].

Cultivation Details

HabitPerennial
GrowthFast

Prefers a humus rich soil[4, 5]. Dog's mercury is a very invasive and common hedgerow plant, it should not be necessary to cultivate it. Male and female plants usually grow in separate clumps, the females being less common[1]. The leaves contain trimethylamine and, in the early stages of putrefaction or when bruised, they give off the smell of rotting fish[6]. A dioecious species - both male and female forms must be grown if fruit and seed are required.

Propagation

Seed - the plant shouldn't need any help in spreading itself, but if you are desperate to be completely overrun by it then you could spread the seed around when it is ripe in late spring and early summer. Division - once again, there really is no need to help the plant but you can divide the roots at any time of the year. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Mercurialis+perennis>

Pollinators

Wind, Flies

References

  1. [1]A Modern Herbal. — Grieve. · Penguin · 1984 · ISBN 0-14-046-440-9 ↩︎Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.
  2. [2]A Colour Atlas of Poisonous Plants. — Frohne. D. and Pfänder. J. · Wolfe · 1984 · ISBN 0723408394 ↩︎Brilliant. Goes into technical details but in a very readable way. The best work on the subject that I've come across so far.
  3. [3]Poisonous Plants in Britain and their Effects on Animals and Man. — Cooper. M. and Johnson. A. · HMSO · 1984 · ISBN 0112425291 ↩︎Concentrates mainly on the effects of poisonous plants to livestock.
  4. [4]Hamlyn Encyclopaedia of Plants. — Triska. Dr. · Hamlyn · 1975 · ISBN 0-600-33545-3 ↩︎Very interesting reading, giving some details of plant uses and quite a lot of folk-lore.
  5. [5]Flora of the British Isles. — Clapham, Tutin and Warburg. · Cambridge University Press · 1962 · ISBN - ↩︎A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.
  6. [6]Scented Flora of the World. — Genders. R. · Robert Hale. London. · 1994 · ISBN 0-7090-5440-8 ↩︎An excellent, comprehensive book on scented plants giving a few other plant uses and brief cultivation details. There are no illustrations.
  7. [7]Edible and Medicinal Plants. — Launert. E. · Hamlyn · 1981 · ISBN 0-600-37216-2 ↩︎Covers plants in Europe. a drawing of each plant, quite a bit of interesting information.
  8. [8]Shade Plants for Garden and Woodland. — Brown. ↩︎
  9. [9]The Herb Book. — Lust. J. · Bantam books · 1983 · ISBN 0-553-23827-2 ↩︎Lots of information tightly crammed into a fairly small book.
  10. [10]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  11. [11]The Useful Plants of Great Britain. — Johnson. C. P. ↩︎Written about a hundred years ago, but still a very good guide to the useful plants of Britain.
  12. [12]A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. — Usher. G. · Constable · 1974 · ISBN 0094579202 ↩︎Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.