African milk tree
Euphorbia trigona Mill.
- light
- Part sun
- water
- Little
- tall
- 2.7 m
- wide
- 2.3 m
Euphorbiaceae
Formerly Euphorbia hermentiana
When it flowers
JFMAMJJASOND
Not known yet in the tropics: too few flowering observations to read a season from.
PetsNC State Extension lists it as toxic to dogs and cats (25 Oct 2026)
PeopleNC State Extension lists it as poisonous (leaves, roots, sap, stems) (25 Oct 2026)
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- Succulent shrub or treeKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- Seasonally dry tropicalKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- Gabon to MalawiKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Part shade (3 to 6 h)Read from NC State Extension, one source
- Height
- 1.8 m to 3.7 mRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Spread
- 1.5 m to 3.0 mRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Water
- Little: takes droughtRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Flowers
- White, yellow, greenRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Coldest it survives
- -6.7 °C (USDA zone 9a)Read from NC State Extension, one source
Not known yet: heat, hottest it survives.
In other languages (3)
- German
- Dreikantige Wolfsmilch
- Finnish
- Pylvästyräkki
- Chinese
- 三角大戟, 巴西龙骨, 彩云阁
Where this comes from
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- NC State Extension, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA 3.0
- 3D model: Euphorbia trigona (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.