Biology:Euphorbia grantii

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Short description: Species of flowering plant

African milk bush
SynadeniumGrantii.jpg
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Genus: Euphorbia
Species:
E. grantii
Binomial name
Euphorbia grantii
Oliv.
Synonyms[1]
  • Synadenium grantii Hook.f.
  • Euphorbia mulemae Rendle

Euphorbia grantii (syn.) Synadenium grantii) is a species of succulent plant in the family Euphorbiaceae, which is native to Africa.

Name

The specific epithet grantii is in honour of the Scottish explorer James Augustus Grant.[2] It was originally described by Daniel Oliver in 1875.[3] The plant has the common name of African milk bush. The synonym Synadenium grantii is in circulation, too.

Distribution

The plant is native in the African tropics, in particular in Malawi, Kenya and Uganda.[4] It grows at altitudes of 500–2100 meters. It has been introduced in many other tropical regions.

Usage

It is often grown as a hedge plant and as a traditional grave marker among the peoples of central Kenya (Agĩkũyũ, Akamba, etc.).[5]

In 1952 during the Mau Mau Uprising, the poisonous latex of the plant was used to kill cattle.[6]

Gallery

References

  1. The Plant List (2013). Version 1.1. Published on the Internet; http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-79947 (accessed 28 September 2017).
  2. Oliver, Daniel. 1875. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, 29(3): 144.
  3. "Plant name details". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. https://www.ipni.org/n/346682-1. 
  4. Synadenium grantii Hook.f., The Encyclopedia of Succulents. http://www.llifle.com/Encyclopedia/SUCCULENTS/Family/Euphorbiaceae/23048/Synadenium_grantii
  5. (Book) Trees of Kenya, by Tim C. Noad and Ann Birnie, p.109, Self-Published in Nairobi, Kenya 1989
  6. Bernard Verdourt, E.C. Trump and M.E. Church (1969). Common poisonous plants of East Africa. London: Collins. pp. 254. 

External links

Wikidata ☰ Q4022681 entry