Volume 8 > Part 1 > Year 2005 > Page 289 > Euphorbiaceae > Euphorbia

23. Euphorbia lactea Haw.wfo-0000962913

Syn. Pl. Succ.: 127. 1812; Roxb., Fl. Ind. ed. 1832, 3: 468. 1832; Miq., Fl. Ind. Bat. 1, 2: 418. 1859; Boiss. in DC., Prodr. 15(2): 82. 1862; Croizat, Euphorb. Antiq.: 52. 1934.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Succulent, spiny shrub, up to 2 m high, basal diam. to ca 20 cm, erect, branched from immediately above the base; older parts terete, younger branches distinctly 3(–4)-angled, ascending, bark green, whitish marbled or whitish-greyish throughout; youngest branches ca 3–17 by 1.5–3 cm, slightly constricted and often biplanar at their base, sinuses between spine-shields ca 5 mm deep; spine-shields ca 10–15 mm apart, spines in pairs, 2–3 mm long, blackish to brown, persistent, glabrous. Leaves rarely present, alternate scale-like, ca 4 by 3 mm, orbicular. Neither flowering nor fruiting.

Distribution : Widely cultivated, origin unknown (type from ‘India orientalis’).

Vernacular : Salatdai lueang (สลัดไดเหลือง)(Central).

Uses: Widely cultivated as cactus-like garden ornamental, although never flowering. Branch segments root very easily.