Taxon: Euphorbia tirucalli L.

Species on the following lists:

• CITES Appendix II
  
• Check conservation status and distribution in NatureServe Explorer database

Common names:

• African milkbush   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – English
  
• fingertree   (Source: Dict Gard ) – English
  
• Indian tree spurge   (Source: Herbs Commerce ed2 ) – English
  
• milkbush   (Source: Dict Gard ) – English
  
• milkhedge   (Source: F Pak ) – English
  
• naked-lady   (Source: Aust Pl Common Names ) – English
  
• penciltree   (Source: Hortus 3 ) – English
  
• petroleum-plant   (Source: CRC MedHerbs ed2 ) – English
  
• rubber euphorbia   (Source: Dict Gard ) – English
  
• euphorbe antivenerien   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – French
  
• Latex-Wolfsmilch   (Source: Zander Ency ) – German
  
• almeidinha   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – Portuguese
  
• aveloz   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – Spanish
  
• consuelda   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – Spanish
  
• gummieuforbia   (Source: Vara kulturvaxt namn ) – Swedish
  

Economic importance:

• Environmental: boundary/barrier/support   (fide Pl Res SEAs 12(1):271. 1999)
  
• Environmental: ornamental   (fide Dict Gard; Eur Gard F)
  
• Materials: latex/rubber   (fide Pl Res SEAs 12(1):271. 1999)
  
• Medicines: folklore   (fide Pl Res SEAs 12(1):271. 1999; CRC MedHerbs ed2; Herbs Commerce ed2)
  
• Vertebrate poisons: fish   (fide Pl Res SEAs 12(1):271. 1999)
  
• Vertebrate poisons: mammals   (fide Kingsbury; Lampe & McCann; Econ Pl Aust)
  

More:

View toxicology references for Euphorbia tirucalli from FDA Poisonous Plant Database

View phytochemical or ethnobotanical data from Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases

Distributional range:

• AFRICA
  Northeast Tropical Africa: Eritrea; Ethiopia; Sudan
  East Tropical Africa: Kenya; Tanzania; Uganda
  West-Central Tropical Africa: Rwanda
  South Tropical Africa: Angola; Mozambique
  Southern Africa: South Africa - Cape Province, KwaZulu-Natal, Transvaal; Swaziland
  Western Indian Ocean: Madagascar

• naturalized elsewhere

• also cultivated

References:

• Airy Shaw, A. K. 1972. The Euphorbiaceae of Siam. Kew Bull. 26:267.
• Airy Shaw, A. K. 1982. The Euphorbiaceae of Central Malesia (Celebes, Moluccas, Lesser Sunda Is.). Kew Bull. 37:20.
• Aldén, B., S. Ryman & M. Hjertson. 2009. Våra kulturväxters namn - ursprung och användning. Formas, Stockholm (Handbook on Swedish cultivated and utility plants, their names and origin).
• Balakrishnan, N. P. & T. Chakrabarty. 2007. The family Euphorbiaceae in India; a synopsis of its profile, taxonomy and bibliography.
• CITES. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendices I, II and III (on-line resource).
• Cremers, G. 1984. Les euphorbes coralliformes de Madagascar. Bull. Jard. Bot. Belg. 54:62–64.
• Duke, J. A. et al. 2002. CRC Handbook of medicinal herbs.
• Eggli, U., ed. 2002. Illustrated handbook of succulent plants: Dicotyledons.
• Eggli, U. 1994. Sukkulenten.
• Erhardt, W. et al. 2008. Der große Zander: Enzyklopädie der Pflanzennamen.
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2010. Ecocrop (on-line resource).
• Govaerts, R. et al. 2000. World checklist and bibliography of Euphorbiaceae.
• Horvath, D. 2011. Euphorbia. Pp. 7:125–132 in: Kole, C., ed., Wild crop relatives: genomic and breeding resources, plantation and ornamental crops.
• Huxley, A., ed. 1992. The new Royal Horticultural Society dictionary of gardening.
• Integrated Botanical Information System (IBIS). Australian plant common name database (on-line resource).
• Kingsbury, J. M. 1964. Poisonous plants of the United States and Canada. [poisonous].
• Lampe, K. F. & M. A. McCann. 1985. AMA handbook of poisonous and injurious plants. [poisonous].
• Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium. 1976. Hortus third.
• McGuffin, M., J. T. Kartesz, A. Y. Leung, & A. O. Tucker. 2000. Herbs of commerce, ed. 2.
• Munro, D. B. Canadian poisonous plants information system (on-line resource).
• Nasir, E. & S. I. Ali, eds. 1970–. Flora of [West] Pakistan.
• Oudejans, R. C. H. M. 1990. World catalogue of species names published in the tribe Euphorbieae (Euphorbiaceae) with their geographical distribution.
• Padua, L. S. de et al., eds. 1999. Medicinal and poisonous plants 1. Pp. 12(1):271, in: Faridah Hanum, I. & L. J. G. van der Maesen, eds., Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA).
• Rehm, S. 1994. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants.
• Reitz, R., ed. 1988. Flora ilustrada catarinense. [cultivated].
• Turrill, W. B. et al., eds. 1952–. Flora of tropical East Africa.
• Walters, S. M. et al., eds. 1986–. European garden flora.

More:

Search AGRICOLA article citation database for citations referencing Euphorbia tirucalli.

Search NCBI's Entrez search engine for PubMed citations referencing Euphorbia tirucalli.

Search Biodiversity Heritage Library for historical publications referencing Euphorbia tirucalli.

Synonyms:

• (=) Euphorbia laro Drake
  (previously associated with 1 accession)

Check other web resources for Euphorbia tirucalli L.:

• SIBIS: South African National Biodiversity Institute's (SANBI) Integrated Biodiversity System
• Mansfeld: Mansfeld's World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops
• ePIC: Electronic Plant Information Centre of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
• AGRICOLA: Article Citation Database or NAL Catalog of USDA's National Agricultural Library
• Entrez: NCBI's search engine for PubMed citations, GenBank sequences, etc.

Check other web resources for images:

• PlantSystematics.org
• Note: Be advised that their identity may be inaccurate. Proper identification of a plant may require specialized taxonomic knowledge or comparison with properly documented herbarium material.

Abbreviations & symbols in GRIN Taxonomy

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