#666 Euphorbia tirucalli Common Names: pencil tree, milkbush, finger tree, pencil euphorbia Family: Euphorbiaceae (spurge Family) Get link to this Profile or click for data record #666 e-mail this page

This pencil tree is trimmed to maintain it as a large shrub where it helps screen a swimming pool from strong breezes blowing in from the ocean.

Location
Euphorbia tirucalli is indigenous to tropical eastern and southern Africa.

Culture
Light: Bright light or sun; pencil tree needs all the light you can give it.
Moisture: Water only when dry. The pencil tree thrives as a houseplant in the driest atmosphere with ordinary soil, water, and feeding. Pencil tree is highly drought tolerant.
Hardiness: USDA Zones 10B - 11. Pencil tree cannot tolerate freezing temperatures.
Propagation: Pencil tree is best propagated by cuttings, which must be dried sufficiently to seal in the milky sap before inserting into potting medium.

Usage
Use pencil tree as a patio plant in a container. In tropical and subtropical climates, pencil tree is used as a specimen or background plant, and in mixed hedges. Pencil tree is highly salt tolerant and is often grown in gardens near the beach.

Features
Pencil tree makes a dramatic presentation. It can be trained and shaped to grow in endless patterns. It can be decorated with tiny lights at Christmas and other holidays. Pencil tree makes a great houseplant and is easy to grow. Pencil tree is one of the African "fish poison" trees. When branches are macerated and placed in a stream, the juice will stupefy fish, enabling fishermen to catch them easily. Pencil tree has been used as a source of latex.

WARNING
All parts of Euphorbia tirucalli ooze a milky sap when damaged or cut. Contact with this sap may cause dermatitis in some people, and in the eyes the sap can cause temporary blindness which may last for several days.

Steve Christman 1/31/00; updated 12/29/07

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