 This plant with yellow flowers that dominates this pasture is called leafy spurge. It may look beautiful, but it's an aggressive and tenacious weed that infests hundreds of thousands of acres in Wyoming and costs landowners and taxpayers millions of dollars each year. Leafy spurge has amazing characteristics that allow it to survive and spread. This flower, for example, produces seeds and capsules. And when the capsules mature, they explode and throw the seed as far away as 20 feet. Spurge seeds can also pass unharmed through the digestive tracts of mammals and birds or be spread in the mud associated with animal hoofs, tires, and machinery. Leafy spurge also has an incredible system of roots and underground stems that allow it to spread from existing plants. In just a few years, a single plant can spread to cover acres in this way, totally crowding out the desirable plants, ruining habitat for both wild and domestic animals. Leafy spurge is also filled with foul-tasting milky sap that keep cattle from eating it. The good news is that research by the University of Wyoming and other institutions has developed tools that can be used to halt the spread and reduce the amount of leafy spurge. Receding grasses that compete with spurge is one such technique. Billions of tiny beneficial flea beetles have been released that feed exclusively on leafy spurge. The battle with leafy spurge will never be over, but we're making progress. I'm Gene Gade of the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service.