Euphorbia unispina
Euphorbia unispina
Safety & Hazards
The latex is very caustic, toxic and very irritating to the skin and mucous membranes. It can cause blindness when in contact with the eyes. It is incorporated into arrow-poisons, though always mixed with other ingredients, such as the seeds of Strophanthus species; it is also added to bait in traps and used as a fish poison[ 299 Title Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. Publication Author Website http://www.prota.org Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa. , 332 Title The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. Publication Author Burkil. H. M. Publisher Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew. Year 1985 - 2004 ISBN Description Brief descriptions and details of the uses of over 4,000 plants. A superb, if terse, resource, it is also available electronically on the Web - see http://www.aluka.org/ ].
Botanical Description
Euphorbia unispina is a spiny, succulent shrub with a stout, sparsely-branched stem that can be up to 3 or 4 metres tall; it looks rather like a cactus. The branches can be 16 - 25mm thick, usually with a few leaves at their tips. The whole plant is a silvery grey, it is covered with shallow tubercles and horny spine shields up to 1 cm in diameter with a single spine[ 299 Title Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. Publication Author Website http://www.prota.org Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa. , 328 Title African Flowering Plants Database Publication Author Website http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/africa/recherche.php Publisher Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques. Year 0 ISBN Description Contains information on over 150,000 plant names (including synonyms) giving a description and habitat, plus a distribution map. , 332 Title The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. Publication Author Burkil. H. M. Publisher Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew. Year 1985 - 2004 ISBN Description Brief descriptions and details of the uses of over 4,000 plants. A superb, if terse, resource, it is also available electronically on the Web - see http://www.aluka.org/ ]. Although poisonous, the latex from the plant is harvested from the wild and used in local medicine. The latex contains various substances that have potential for use in conventional medicine. The plant is sometimes grown as an ornamental in west Africa; whilst in Europe and the United States it is a rare and difficult to grow pot plant in succulent collections[ 299 Title Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. Publication Author Website http://www.prota.org Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa. , 332 Title The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. Publication Author Burkil. H. M. Publisher Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew. Year 1985 - 2004 ISBN Description Brief descriptions and details of the uses of over 4,000 plants. A superb, if terse, resource, it is also available electronically on the Web - see http://www.aluka.org/ ].