Euphorbia tirucalli ‘Rosea’
Pencil tree, milkbush, finger tree, sticks of fire
Pencil tree is a native of northeastern, central and southern Africa. It is also found in China, Indonesia, India, and the Philippines. It is not native to North America, but has become naturalized in some areas. This cultivar of Euphorbia tirucalli has red tips, and is nicknamed “firesticks.”
Plants: Branches are smooth, cylindrical, green, tangled, and about the diameter of a pencil. Branch tips in this cultivar are orange, red, or pink. Plants are up to 20′ (6.1 m) high. There are no spines.
Leaves: About ½″ (1.3 cm) long and less than ⅛″ (3.2 mm) wide. They fall off early, so usually the stems appear naked.
Flowers: Cyathia at branch tips hide pale yellow and inconspicuous flowers.
Fruits: Fruits are three-part capsules about ⅜″ (1.2 cm) in diameter, on ¼″ (8 mm) stalks, pale green, with a pink tinge, and softly hairy.
Habitats: The native plant favors black clay soils in southern Africa.
Edibility: Poisonous 
The milky sap that oozes
from any broken part of this plant causes dermatitis and severe pain in some. It can cause
extreme pain and induce temporary blindness,
lasting several days, if it comes in contact with the eyes. If you get any in your eyes,
flush them with water for at least 15 minutes, then seek immediate medical attention.
Deaths have been recorded from ingestion.
Online References:
2/24/2010 · San Diego (Quail) Botanic Garden, Encinitas, California 
2/26/2010 · San Diego Zoo, San Diego, California 
| Kingdom | Plantae | Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin) |
| Subkingdom | Tracheobionta | Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients |
| Division | Magnoliophyta | Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms |
| Class | Magnoliopsida | Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves |
| Subclass | Rosidae | Roses, legumes, proteas, dogwoods, hydrangeas, mistletoes, euphorbias, grapes, many more |
| Order | Malpighiales | A broad group encompassing 16,000 species |
| Family | Euphorbiaceae | Euphorbia or spurge family |
| Genus | Euphorbia | An extremely diverse-looking genus of mostly tropical and subtropical succulent plants. For Euphorbus, corpulent Greek physician of Juba II, King of Mauretania. Literally, “euphorbia” means “well-fed” |
| Species | tirucalli | Assigned by Linnaeus in 1753, as this was the name used by the natives of Malabar, a region of southern India |
Euphorbia tirucalli ‘Rosea’ description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.
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