petty spurge

I find a clump of petty spurge growing in a back alley, and the rather beautiful zebrina mallow, swaying in the afternoon breeze at the base of a garbage heap.

The sap from a plant known as petty spurge or milkweed - found by roadsides and in woodland - can 'kill' certain types of cancer cells when applied to the skin, reports the Daily Mail.

Derived from a plant known as petty spurge or radium weed, PEP005 will be used to treat AK (characterized by rough patches of skin resulting from excessive exposures to sunlight) before it develops into skin cancer.

The most popular is the Christmas houseplant poinsettia, with scarlet or cream bracts, and the most irritating the native British petty spurge, that seeds freely and becomes a garden weed.

SAP from the common garden weed petty spurge appears to treat non-melanoma skin cancers, experts have found.