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Euphorbia arbuscula

Species of plant

Summary

Species of plant

Euphorbia arbuscula is a species of plant in the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae).

Scottish botanist Isaac Bayley Balfour described this species in 1884 from material collected from the Yemeni island of Socotra, where he recorded it as common. The species name is derived from the Latin adjective arbusculus "small tree". Two subspecies are recognised. Balfour had visited Socotra in 1880 and collected many plants.

The nominate subspecies arbuscula has a tree-like habit, reaching 6 m (20 ft) tall. It has cylindrical greyish green branches. Subspecies montana is smaller, reaching 2 m (7 ft) in height.

The leaflets are eaten by goats, both when the leaves are dried out and when they are green and fresh.

When cut or injured, this plant exudes a caustic latex that can burn the skin of a human who is not adequately protected. The latex from this plant is useful for veterinary, medicinal, and other purposes such as for fishing.

Footnotes

References

  1. Miller, A.. (2004). "''Euphorbia arbuscula''".
  2. . (n.d.). ["Euphorbia arbuscula Balf.f."](https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:345642-1). *The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew*.
  3. Miller, A.. (2004). "''Euphorbia arbuscula''".
  4. (1884). "Diagnoses plantarum novarum phanerogamarum Socotrensium etc.". Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
  5. (2004). "Etymological Dictionary of Succulent Plant Names". Springer Science & Business Media.
  6. Eggli, Urs. (2002). "Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants: Dicotyledons". Springer Science & Business Media.
  7. (2006). "A New Subgeneric Classification for Euphorbia (Euphorbiaceae) in Southern Africa Based on ITS and psbA-trnH Sequence Data". Taxon.
  8. Mies, Bruno. (1995). "On the comparison of the flora and vegetation of the island groups of Socotra and Macaronesia". Boletim do Museu Municipal do Funchal.
  9. For that reason, this species is often planted near settlements. Herders who seek to harvest food for their herd should avoid chopping off whole branches, or violently beating the branches to knock off the leaflets, in which case the plant is less likely to recover. This plant flowers during the hot, dry season and is able to survive severe drought, assuming it is not abused by herders. Its [[Stoma|pores]] close during the day, to minimize [[transpiration]]al water-loss, as part of its [[crassulacean acid metabolism]] (CAM).Brown, Gary and Mies, Bruno. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=XOea3sMEkLcC&pg=PA97 Vegetation Ecology of Socotra]'', p. 97 (Springer, 2012).
  10. [http://www.friendsofsoqotra.org/Activities/pdfs/Tayf%20March%202003.pdf "Traditional Soqotran poetry:A Poem to ''Euphorbia''"] Discorida issue 1, March 2003 retrieved on 23 December 2016.
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