Euphorbia lactea
| Euphorbia lactea | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Malpighiales |
| Family: | Euphorbiaceae |
| Genus: | Euphorbia |
| Species: | E. lactea |
| Binomial name | |
| Euphorbia lactea Haw. | |
Euphorbia lactea is a species of spurge native to tropical Asia, mainly in India.[1]
It is an erect shrub growing up to 5 metres (16 ft) tall, with succulent branches 3–5 centimetres (1.2–2.0 in) diameter, ridged, with a triangular or rhombic cross-section; the ridges are spiny, with short spines up to 5 millimetres (0.20 in) long. The leaves are minute, and soon deciduous.[1] All parts of the plant contain a poisonous milky latex.[2] Common names include mottled spurge,[3] frilled fan[citation needed], elkhorn[citation needed], candelabra spurge,[3] candelabrum tree, candelabra cactus, candelabra plant, dragon bones,[3] false cactus,[3] hatrack cactus,[3] milkstripe euphorbia, mottled candlestick.
It is used medicinally in India.[4] It is widely grown as an ornamental plant, both in the tropics, and as a houseplant in temperate regions; a number of cultivars have been selected for ornamental use, notably 'Cristata' with frilled branching.
| This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Metasyntactic variable, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. |