Can we talk about how cool Euphorbia are?

[brontosauruschuck]

Here are some photos I didn't take:







I can't get over the variety of this genus, and how they all are kind of bizarre in their own way.

Here are some photos I did take.



Look how prolific this is. I love the offshoots that were actually growing in the pot, in complete darkness.



Crown of Thorns is such a great plant. It looks beautiful and does a really good job of making sure nobody messes with it.





I was never able to ID this species, but I'm fairly sure it's a Euphorbia.

And of course, the most famous Euphorbia is E. pulcherrima, AKA poinsettia. One of my favorite flowers to have around the house all year.

[EarthboundEiniosaurus]

Euphorbia are super cool! Such a great diversity in form, from succulents that look like cactus to more "typical" plants like a poinsettia and everything in between. Particularly interesting are the madagascan and south african species, all thorny and succulent. I personally have a Euphorbia buplurifolia and a Euphorbia "japonica" . Both look superficially similar to cycads or, when they get older and start branching, like bennettitales! 

[Lanthanotus]

While I agree, wouldn`t it be more accurate to call them Euphorbiaceae as these all share a family rather than a genus?

Smart-arse aside, I wasn`t aware the Christmas flower counts towards that family. Maybe that`s because I never succeeded in having these family of plants thriving. Always messing with the seasons and their needs in drier and wetter environment.

[EarthboundEiniosaurus]

@Lanthanotus, looking at the pictures brontosauruschuck posted, the ones I'm able to identify are all in the genus Euphorbia. One of the reasons Euphorbia is so cool is because of its diversity, with something like 2,000 different and very distinct species in this one genus.

[Halichoeres]

They really are amazing plants. Thanks for the reminder that poinsettias are in the genus, very easy to forget that.

I think Euphorbia is a good illustration that 'genus' and other taxonomic ranks don't have any real meaning (clades are real, of course, and ideally named taxa should be too). Imagine how many families of theropods a dinosaur worker would have named based on the same amount of variation.

[Lanthanotus]

@Lanthanotus, looking at the pictures brontosauruschuck posted, the ones I'm able to identify are all in the genus Euphorbia. One of the reasons Euphorbia is so cool is because of its diversity, with something like 2,000 different and very distinct species in this one genus.

Have to get my botany skills up to date, but for all the information available to me right now, you are right.... quite amazing indeed considering the variation. In fact I found one my garden aswell, they are not very numerous, but appear every year.

Euphorbia lathyris

[Gwangi]

I used to have a couple crown of thorns. I had them for at least a decade and then last year accidentally left them outside during a frost, that was the end. I'll never forgive myself for it, they had grown so tall and beautiful.

[brontosauruschuck]

@Lanthanotus, looking at the pictures brontosauruschuck posted, the ones I'm able to identify are all in the genus Euphorbia. One of the reasons Euphorbia is so cool is because of its diversity, with something like 2,000 different and very distinct species in this one genus.

Have to get my botany skills up to date, but for all the information available to me right now, you are right.... quite amazing indeed considering the variation. In fact I found one my garden aswell, they are not very numerous, but appear every year.

Euphorbia lathyris

That grows locally where I live and I had no idea it was a Euphorbia. How cool!