Euphorbia lignosa
Click on each image to see a larger version and details of the record
Image 1
Milky sap
28 Sep 2006
Image 2
Habit
07 May 2005
Image 3
Habit (note reddish
colouration)
21 Sep 2008
Image 4
Flower
27 Sep 2008
Image 5
Fruit
27 Sep 2008
Image 6
Habit
13 Dec 2008
| Family: | Euphorbiaceae |
| Full name: | Euphorbia lignosa Marloth |
| ID status: | Fairly certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | Gifmelkbos |
| English common name(s): | Pencil milkbush |
| Synonym(s): | - |
| Status: | Near-endemic |
| Description: | A dwarf densely much-branched bush, forming a hemispheric cushion up to 3 ft. in diam., and 0.5–1 ft. high; main stem very stout, somewhat globose at the crown from which the branches arise, descending as a thick carrot-shaped root; main branches very numerous, repeatedly divided into short alternate spine-like or sharp-pointed branchlets, soft and succulent when young, becoming rigid, glabrous; leaves alternate, only present on very young branches, 1.5–5 lin. long, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate or sometimes obovate, acute, tapering near the base into a short petiole, longitudinally folded, recurved, very minutely puberulous; flowering branches with 1 terminal sessile involucre or with 1 sessile and 1 or 2 lateral involucres on peduncle-like branches 0.333– 0.5 in. long, forming a 2–3-flowered cyme, very minutely puberulous; bracts about 2–2.5 lin. long and 1.5–2 lin. broad, orbicular-obovate and apiculate, or broadly cuneate, subtruncate and minutely toothed, very minutely puberulous on both sides; involucre 3.5–5 lin. in diam., shallowly cup-shaped, very minutely puberulous, with 5 glands and 5 transverse rectangular lobes fringed with numerous subulate teeth along the truncate top; glands obliquely cup-like or funnel-shaped, with 4–9 entire or bifid channelled finger-like processes 0.25– 0.5 lin. long along the outer margin, glabrous in the cavity, very minutely puberulous outside; capsule sessile, erect, with its base embraced by the remains of the involucre, 2.5 lin. in diam., globose, very minutely puberulous; styles 1–1.25 lin. long, united nearly to the top, with 3 spreading bifid arms 0.167– 0.25 lin. long; seeds 1.25 lin. long, ovoid, acute at one end, somewhat 3-angled, smooth, glabrous. (from JSTOR website / Flora Capensis) |
| Link(s) |
African Plant Database
JSTOR Plant Science Kew Herbarium Catalogue BGBM Berlin-Dahlem - Virtual Herbarium Züricher Herbarien Flora of Zimbabwe Fleurs de notre Terre - Galerie Namibie |
| Content last updated: | 22 Nov 2011 |
