Euphorbia antiquorum L.

Euphorbia antiquorum is the type species for the genus Euphorbia. It is used medicinally.

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.

Escaped or naturalized, more widely cultivated. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; wild origin obscure].