african milk tree euphorbia trigona with new leaves pix sanjiv shukla

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African milk tree (Euphorbia trigona) with new leaves : (pix Sanjiv Shukla)

African milk tree (Euphorbia trigona) is also known as cathedral cactus, Abyssinian euphorbia, and high chaparall. Commonly used as a house plant, it has an upright stem and number of branches that also grow upward. The stem and branches can have two or three sides. The stem itself is dark green with V-shaped light green patterns. Thorns are placed in pairs of two on the stem's ridges. The drop shaped leaves grow from between the two thorns on each ridge. Like other Euphorbia species, the latex from the plant is poisonous.