How to growEuphorbia
Euphorbia(u - for - be - a )
Named after Euphorbus , physician to King Juba of Mauritania(Euphorbiaceae).A genus of about a thousand species , widely deal out , mainly in temperate regions , designate vast diverseness of form and essential . They include annual , biyearly and perennial herbaceous plants , shrub and Tree and succulent plants . The decorative parts are really bracts , often colourful , round the small and inconspicuous flush . Some are affectionate greenhouse plants ; others are unfearing . The succulent mintage are mainly from Africa , most of them from South and West Africa . Many of those resemble cacti in coming into court . For the purpose of this clause the succulent specie are treat with separately . All euphorbias transude a venomous whitish latex when the stem turn are trim , which can cut the cutis and oculus and which , in some species , is poisonous if taken internally .
nursery species cultivated(all non - succulent),E. fulgens(syn . E. jacquinaeflora),2 - 3 feet , small leafy shrub , ruddy bract carried on the upper side of untested shoots , fall and wintertime , Mexico . E. pulcherrima(syn . Poinsettia pulcherrima),poinsettia , 3 - 6 feet , brilliant red showy bract in wintertime , Mexico . The modern Ecke hybrids are increase in popularity . They include ‘ Barbara Ecke ’ , fluorescent carmine bracts ; ‘ pinkish Ecke ’ , red coral pink and ‘ White Ecke ’ , lily-white . Some have motley foliation . Even more pop now is the Mikkelsen breed , introduced in 1964 . These , with shorter stems and with bract in scarlet , pink or clean , are a dependable deal ‘ hardier ’ in that they will withstand lower temperature and fluctuating temperature , yet will keep back their bracts and remain colorful for 5 - 6 weeks .
HardyE. biglandulosa,2 pes , yellow , February and March , Greece . E. cyparissias , cypress spurge , ploughman ’s mignonette , 1 - 2 foot , small narrow leaves , small greenish - yellow flowers and yellow , heart - shaped bract , May , Europe . E. epithymoides(syn . E. polychroma),cushion spurge , 1 - 11 feet , round off pass of golden‑yellow bracts , early April to previous May , Europe . E. griffithii,1A-2 feet , reddish - orange flowers and bracts , April and early May ; the cultivar ` Fireglow ’ has redder efflorescence - heads , Himalaya . E. heterophylla , Mexican fire plant , yearly poinsettia , 2 feet , scarlet bract , one-year , North and South America . E. genus Lathyrus , caper spurge,3 feet , large green bracts , biennial , Europe . E. marginata , blow - on - the - mount , 2 metrical foot , leave ring white , bract blanched , annual , North America . E. myrsinites , tracking , skillful when sprouting between Edward Durell Stone of a dry wall , fleshy stems , blue - Charles Grey foliage , bright scandalmongering efflorescence - heads , late winter and spring , southern Europe . E. pilosa,18 inches , usually grown in its formmajor , with yellow foliage , move around bronze in fall , Europe , north Asia . E. portlandica,9 inches , gentle - green leaves , yellowed bracts , British native . E. robbiae,1 feet , rosette of non-white immature farewell , bract yellow , just ground cover works for refinement . E. sikkimensis,2 - 3 foot , young inject burnished red , bract xanthous - green , summer , India . E. veneta(syn . E. wulfenii),to 4 feet , nearly 3 ft across , very well-favoured almost sub - fruticulose plant life , gray - green foliage , yellow - green flower - heads with black ‘ eyes ’ , spring to summer , Europe . Other ’ metal money and varieties of hardy spurge may be found in nurserymen ’s cataloges .
SucculentThere are very many specie in cultivation : some of the following are some of the more democratic ones , E. alcicornis , to 2 ft , leafless , spiny shrub , stanch five - slant , Madagascar . E. bupleurifolia , dwarf , chummy stem like a tight fir strobile , with child deciduous leaf growing from the top , wan green flowers , Cape Province . E. canariensis , shrub with modest jaundiced flowers , many tumid stems , 4 - 6 ribbed , short backbone on edges , Canary Isles . E. caput - medusoid , dwarf , buddy-buddy independent stem , making a gravid head from which radiate many slender branches a substructure or more long , small yellow flowers . There is a cristate or flagitious form with thin , flattened branches , Cape Province . E. echinus , shrub with tumid prow and many branches , 5 - 8 angled , stem similar in shape to the cactus , Cereus eburneus , south Morocco . E.obesa , one of the most popular euphorbias , plant around when young , coloured like tartan , becoming columnar , closely resembling the cactus , Astrophytum asterias;this plant does not make offset so must be turn from seed , Cape Province . E. splendens , crown of thorns , 2 - 3 feet , succulent , prickly , few - leaved bush , pairs of round reddish bracts , principally in bound , Madagascar .
Cultivation : Greenhouse ( non - succulent ) speciesA good compost is 4 parts of sinewy loam , I part of decayed cow manure and a half part of silver grit . new plants should be potted into 6 — or 8 — in pots in summertime and kept in a inhuman household or material body until September . Then bung regularly with a smooth feed and bring into a temperature of 60 - 65 ° F ( 16 - 18 ° C ) to bring the plants into prime in December . After flowering , reduce tearing and temperature until the soil is quite dry . In April cut back to two buds and commence to water system . Repot in May when the youthful shoot are about 1 inch long . Pot on as required ; in gamey summertime the pots can be stood out of doors or sustain in a cold skeleton and play in again in September . Propagation is from cuttings of young shoot taken in summer and insert in sand in a temperature of 70 ° F ( 21 ° C ) .
Hardy speciesAny honest garden stain beseem them . E. veneta ( E. wulfenii)prefers a slightly sheltered view , but the others should be grant gay piazza . The gnome kind are suitable for the rock garden , althoughE. cyparissiastends to incline , spreading by underground rootstock . generation of repeated sort is by division of the flora in spring or autumn butE. veneta ( E. wulfenii ) isbest increase from seed or easy cutting taken in former spring and inserted in a sandy compost out of door or under a cloche . The annuals and the biennial , E. genus Lathyrus , are easy raised from seed sown out of doors in April where the plants are to flower , slim down the seedlings afterwards . E. lathyrusseeds itself freely .
lush speciesMost of these plants like a richer soil than some succulent but it must be poriferous . The compost should be made up from a good potting compost with a fifth part added of shrill guts , grit or break brick . Repot in March every two years or when the plants become potbound ; water well from April to September , keep pretty teetotal from October to March . Temperatures should be .65 ° F ( 18 ° C ) , in the originate period of time , 45 - 50 ° F ( 7 - 10 ° C ) in wintertime . Plants should be given a wakeful gay place in the nursery or on a window sill . Propagation is by seed sown in early spring in pans of seed compost . Cover the seed with its own deepness of ground , keep moist at temperature of 70 ° F ( 21 ° degree centigrade ) , shade from Sunday but give Inner Light when seedlings appear . Large seeds should be washed well before sow . Plants may also be propagated by cuttings which should be dust with powdered charcoal to keep hemorrhage , then dried and root in sharp George Sand and peat in equalparts . Pot up the cuttings when they have rooted in compost .
