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Crown of thorns (Euphorbia milii)

Dlium Crown of thorns (Euphorbia milii)

Crown of thorns (Euphorbia milii) is a species of plant in the Euphorbiaceae, a sub-shrub or shrub, woody succulent, erect, up to 1.8 meters high, thorny stems dense, straight and slender, up to 3 cm long to help creep over the plant other.

E. milii has leaves at the tips of new shoots, oval in shape, green, thick and fleshy. Flowers have a pair of conspicuous petal-like bracts, red or pink or white, up to 12 mm wide.



Crown of thorns grows at 4-40C in open, sunny but tolerant of little shade and low rainfall. It is widely used as an ornamental and medicinal plant. Flowers are used to treat uterine bleeding, stem shoots for hepatitis, leaves for burns and stems for ulcers.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Subfamily: Euphorbioideae
Tribe: Euphorbieae
Subtribe: Euphorbiinae
Genus: Euphorbia L. in Sp. Pl.: 450 (1753)
Subgenus: Euphorbia
Section: Goniostema
Species: Euphorbia milii Des Moul. in Bull. Hist. Nat. Soc. Linn. Bordeaux 1: 27 (1826)

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS

Euphorbia bojeri Hook. in Bot. Mag. 63: t. 3527 (1836)
Euphorbia bojeri var. mucronulata Ram.Goyena in Fl. Nicarag. 1: 297 (1909)
Euphorbia breonii Reider in Bloemk. Beschr.: 58 (1830)
Euphorbia milii var. breonii (Reider) Ursch & Leandri in Mém. Inst. Sci. Madagascar, Sér. B, Biol. Vég. 5: 148 (1954 publ. 1955)
Euphorbia milii f. lutea Leandri in Cactus (Paris) 34: 112 (1952)
Euphorbia milii var. milii
Euphorbia splendens var. bojeri (Hook.) Costantin & Gallaud in Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat. (Paris) 11: 353 (1905)
Euphorbia splendens subsp. bojeri (Hook.) Denis in Euphorb. Iles Austr. Afr.: 84 (1921)
Sterigmanthe bojeri (Hook.) Klotzsch & Garcke in Monatsber. Königl. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin 1859: 252 (1859)
Tumalis bojeri (Hook.) Raf. in Fl. Tellur. 4: 114 (1838)

PUBLICATIONS

Aung, Y.L., Aung, M.H., Tan, Y. & Jin, X. (2025). An updated checklist of vascular plants of Myanmar. PhytoKeys 261: 135-364.

Baksh-Comeau, Y., Maharaj, S.S., Adams, C.D., Harris, S.A., Filer, D.L. & Hawthorne, W.D. (2016). An annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Trinidad and Tobago with analysis of vegetation types and botanical 'hotspots'. Phytotaxa 250: 1-431.

Balakrishnan, N.P. & Chakrabarty, T. (2007). The family Euphorbiaceae in India. A synopsis of its profile, taxonomy and bibliography: 1-500. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun.

Binojkumar, M.S. & Balakrishnan, N.P. (2010). The genus Euphorbia L. (Euphorbiaceae) in India. A taxonomic revision: 1-430. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun.

Chayamarit, K. & Van Welzen, P.C. (2005). Euphorbiaceae (Genera A-F). Flora of Thailand 8(1): 1-303. The Forest Herbarium, National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, Bangkok.

Govaerts, R., Frodin, D.G. & Radcliffe-Smith, A. (2000). World Checklist and Bibliography of Euphorbiaceae (and Pandaceae) 1-4: 1-1622. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Jones, M. (1991). A checklist of Gambian plants: 1-33. Michael Jones, The Gambia College.

Jørgensen, P.M., Nee, M.H. & Beck., S.G. (eds.) (2013). Catálogo de las plantas vasculares de Bolivia. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 127: 1-1741. Missouri Botanical Garden.

Kotiya, A., Solanki, Y. & Reddy, G.V. (2020). Flora of Rajasthan: 1-769. Rajasthan state biodiversity board.

Nelson Sutherland, C.H. (2008). Catálogo de las plantes vasculares de Honduras. Espermatofitas: 1-1576. SERNA/Guaymuras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Nurtjahya, E. & al. (2026). Flowering Plants of Bangka Island: Native and Introduced. Acta Botanica Hungarica 68: 127-156.

Rebmann, N. (2007). Les Euphorbes de Madagascar. Succulentes Spécial: 1-48.

Sarder, N.U. & Hassan, M.A. (eds.) (2018). Vascular flora of Chittagong and the Chittagong Hill Tracts 3: 1-978. Bangladesh National Herbarium, Dhaka.

Sauerbier, H., Cabrera Calixto, F. & Muer, T. (2023). Flora Vascular de Canarias: 1-1514. Turquesa.

Wu, Z.Y., Raven, P.H. & Hong, D.Y. (eds.) (2008). Flora of China 11: 1-622. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

VERNACULAR NAME

Arabic: فربيون شوكة المسيح
Bengali: কাঁটা মুকুট Kanta Mukut
Chinese (simplified): 虎刺梅 - 铁海棠
Chinese (traditional): 虎刺梅 - 鐵海棠 - 麒麟花
Croatian: Kristov trn
Czech: Pryšec zářivý
Danish: Kristi tornekrone
English: Crown of thorns, Crown-of-thorns, Christ plant, Christ's thorn, Christ Thorn
Estonian: Särav piimalill
Finnish: Piikkikruunu
French: Couronne d'épines, Épine du Christ
German: Christusdorn
Greek: Αγκάθι του Χριστού
Guangdong: 虎刺梅 - 鐵海棠
Hebrew: חלבלוב קוצני - תרבותי
Hong Kong: 虎刺梅 - 鐵海棠
Indonesia: Mahkota duri, Kaktus pakis giwang
Italian: Corona di Cristo
Japan: ハナキリン - 広義 - 花麒麟
Lithuanian: Dygliuotoji karpažolė
Macao: 虎刺梅 - 鐵海棠
Polish: Wilczomlecz okazały
Portuguese: Coroa-de-Cristo
Russian: Молочай Милиуса
Slovak: Mliečnik Miliusov
Spanish: Corona de Cristo, Tú y Yo
Swedish: Kristi törnekrona
Taiwan: 虎刺梅 - 鐵海棠 - 麒麟花
Thai: โป๊ยเซียน
Turkish: Dikenler Tacı

Aryo Bandoro
Dlium TheDlium
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dlium
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