Euphorbia

Euphorbia is a very large and diverse genus of flowering plants, commonly called spurge, in the family Euphorbiaceae. “Euphorbia” is sometimes used in ordinary English to collectively refer to all members of Euphorbiaceae (in deference to the type genus), not just to members of the genus.

Euphorbias range from tiny annual plants to large and long-lived trees.The genus has roughly 2,000 members,making it one of the largest genera of flowering plants. It also has one of the largest ranges of chromosome counts, along with Rumex and Senecio. Euphorbia antiquorum is the type species for the genus Euphorbia.

Some euphorbias are widely available commercially, such as poinsettias at Christmas. Some are commonly cultivated as ornamentals, or collected and highly valued for the aesthetic appearance of their unique floral structures, such as the crown of thorns plant (Euphorbia milii). Succulent euphorbias from the deserts of Southern Africa and Madagascar have evolved physical characteristics and forms similar to cacti of North and South America, so they are often incorrectly referred to as cacti.^[11] Some are used as ornamentals in landscaping, because of beautiful or striking overall forms, and drought and heat tolerance.

Euphorbia all share the feature of having a poisonous, latex-like sap and unique floral structures.When viewed as a whole, the head of flowers looks like a single flower .It has a unique kind of pseudanthium, called a cyathium, where each flower in the head is reduced to its barest essential part needed for sexual reproduction.