Euphorbia antiquorum L.

Trees or shrubs, 3-5(-8) m tall, glabrous except for cyathia. Stems 5-7 cm thick, green, 3(or 4)-ribbed, branching from upper parts; ribs prominent, winglike, up to 1-2 cm wide, 3-5 mm thick, prominently triangular toothed. Leaves alternate, apically clustered, caducous; spine shields small, stipules pricklelike, spines paired, 2-5 mm; petiole very short; leaf blade obovate or obovate-oblong, 2-5 × 1-2 cm, base attenuate, margin entire, apex rounded. Cyathia subterminal, single, peduncle 2-3 mm; cyathophylls as long as involucre, membranous; involucre broadly campanulate, ca. 3 × 5 mm, lobes 5, rounded, denticulate; glands 5, entire. Male flowers many; bracts linear. Female flower: ovary pedicellate, exserted from involucre, smooth and glabrous; styles free; stigma slightly 2-lobed. Capsule 3-lobed, compressed, 3.4-4 × 4-5 mm. Seeds subglobose, ca. 2 × 2 mm, brown-yellow, smooth; caruncle absent. Fl. and fr. all year.

A tropical plant. It grows in drier places. It can be on rocky limestone hills. It grows up to 800 m above sea level. In Sichuan and Yunnan.

CAUTION: Plants in this group are somewhat poisonous. The latex is poisonous. A sweetmeat is made from the leaves. They are boiled, then soaked in water for 2 hours, then reboiled with sugar and the latex removed.

Plants can be grown from seeds and cuttings.