Euphorbia or Shining Spurge

Family Euphorbiaceae. A shrub up to 180 cm tall. Stems sinuous, grayish, spiny, abundantly branching. Young spines (modified stipules) dark purple, blackening with age.

Leaves alternate, shortly petiolate or sessile, usually clustered at the tips of shortened shoots, on young shoots - spreading, obovate or oval, with a short apical point, entire-margined, glabrous. Flowers unisexual, small, yellow, gathered in complex shield-shaped inflorescences emerging from the axils of leaves. The decorative effect of the inflorescence is provided by a pair of broad-ovate bracts with a small point, up to 1.5 cm in diameter, colored pink-red: Origin - the island of Madagascar. In cultivation since the early 19th century.