The Many-faced And Legendary Euphorbia

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

This appetizing name hides a numerous genus of plants, through the vessels of which white milky juice flows, toxic and life-threatening in large quantities. With the correct dosage, the juice turns into healing, helping a person in the fight against a number of ailments. Many representatives of the genus are very decorative and have long been "tamed" by a person who loves to decorate the earth with flower beds. A number of species agree to grow in pots, becoming part of the home interior

To tell about all the representatives of the Euphorbia genus, numbering in their ranks up to two thousand species and found in various parts of our planet, you will need to write a multivolume work. Therefore, we will focus on only a few types. Depending on the living conditions, the form of plants of the genus Euphorbia varies from stunted annuals that form green rugs on the ground to tall trees.

Characteristic features of plants of the genus

What do botanists find in common in such a diverse plant community, uniting them into one genus? The main difference between the representatives of the genus and other plant species is the unique floral structure, called “cyation”. Milkweed flowers lack sepals and a corolla of petals. The female organ, the pistil, is the female flower, and the single stamen is the male flower. The bright "bed" of the flower, which might be mistaken for flower petals, is actually just bracts, sometimes referred to as "wrapper".

Viscous white sap, often quite toxic, flows through the vessels of most species of the genus. Although a similar sap can be observed in other plants. Many species are armed with thorny thorns, which is typical for many plants that have nothing to do with the Euphorbia genus.

Botanical name of the genus

The Latin name of the genus "Euphorbia" preserves the memory of a Greek physician named Euphorbos, who lived in the 1st century BC and was the personal physician of the king of Numidia (today these are the northern lands of Algeria and Tunisia). Euphorbos wrote about one of the Euphorbia species as a source of a powerful laxative drug. His patron, King Juba II, an educated and prolific writer, who from a young age was a friend of the future Roman emperor Caesar Augustus, named this type of Milkweed after his doctor, so as not to lag behind his famous friend in nobility. The fact is that Euphorbos's brother was the personal physician of Caesar Augustus. Having successfully cured the emperor from an illness, he gained fame in the Roman Empire, and his patient thanked the doctor by dedicating a statue to him. King Juba II took a different path, immortalizing the name of his doctor in the name of the plant.

When Carl Linnaeus created the classification of the plant world, he named not one plant, but a whole genus by the name of the doctor. And to the name of the plant, about which Euphorbos wrote, was also added the name of King Juba II. Today this species of the genus Euphorbia has such a long name - “Euphorbia obtusifolia ssp. Regis-jubae "(" Euphorbia (Euphorbia) dull-leaved, subspecies - King Juba "). And this is how this subspecies looks like:

Euphorbia Mila or Crown of Thorns of Christ

The main photo shows its bright bracts. Euphorbia milii (Latin Euphorbia milii). Botanists believe that the homeland of this species is the island of Madagascar. Even in ancient times, the plant got into the territory of the Middle East, and therefore, for the scarlet color of the bracts and sharp thorns on the fleshy and juicy stem, it managed to get into the legends about the son of God. The plant has overgrown with numerous names in which the name of Jesus Christ appears. For example, in Latin America it is called "Corona de Cristo", and in English-speaking countries: "The crown of thorns", "Christ plant", "Christ thorn" "). More details about Milkweed will be discussed in another article.

Ancient Euphorbia or Malay tree

This species of Euphorbia is a type species of the genus. In nature, it can look like a succulent and thorny bush, or a small tree that rises to the heavens to a height of nine meters.

In East Asia, the plant is used as a hedge, for medicinal purposes (laxative, analgesic, for skin diseases), and sweets are even prepared from young shoots after boiling in order to eliminate toxic properties. The milky sap of the plant is added to the wall plaster mix.