Philadelphia Flower Show 2013- Euphorbia

 
Euphorbia is one of the strangest genera of plants, just because of the diversity of looks. One Euphorbia that everyone knows is the poinsettia. Today is just a selection of ones I saw at the flower show. There are over 2000 different Euphorbia. Some are succulents, and some aren't. The common name is "Spurge," and you might have some species in your garden.

Here's an interesting garden one, Euphorbia 'Nothowlee' Blackbird. I like this one a lot. Don't know how hardy it is. A search on the name (taken from its tag) got me no hits at all! That has to be strange.



Just for the complete contrast- here's one I wouldn't even have recognized as being in the genus except for the tags. And these two plants are both the same thing, just at different phases. It is Euphorbia trigona 'rubra.' Trigona is easy- three sided, and rubra is red. The common name for this is African Milk Tree. It would definitely be a houseplant in our climate.



Next is Euphorbia francoisii. There is a lot of variation in the colors of the leaves from plant to plant. It's a native of Madagascar. There were a couple of them at the show, and the leaves of the other one were a much lighter green.



This one is pretty bizarre. It's Euphorbia kibwezensis crest. It's obviously a succulent.


Finally, here is one that looks more like ordinary garden spurges. I really like variegated plants, and this one is awesome. It also has a rather showy flower cluster, which many of them don't. This is Euphorbia characias 'Tasmanian Tiger.'



Most Euphorbias have a milky sap that can be mildly irritating, to causing serious rashes like poison ivy.

	See I'm Green, for one that's similar to Nothowlee
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