When is a flower not a flower?

When it belongs to member of the Euphorbia family.   

I photographed the curious reproductive structures of the wood spurge on a wet day in the garden. These plants dispense with most of the usual features of flowers and yet the genus Euphorbia has been very successful worldwide, encompassing globular cactus-like succulents,  familiar Christmas Poinsettia plants and the trees that produce latex or natural rubber.

In Australia where milkweed  is invasive, the plant's white sap has for generations served  as a home remedy for sunspots (non-malignant melanoma) on the fair skin of  European settlers: a blob of it on the spot will cause the lesion to peel off. 'Radium weed' , as its known,  has now received the official seal of approval and is being promoted as a cheap and simple treatment for a condition that has hitherto taken a toll on the health services. More about that here.

And if anyone wants to explore the complicated reproductive apparatus of the Euphorbia (spurge) family there's some brilliant microphotography (as usual) on this site.