Euphorbiaceae are a frequent guest on our windowsills. They are quite unpretentious to the illumination of the room, do not require frequent watering, and at the same time they have a strange, contradictory beauty - beautiful delicate flowers bloom on rough prickly shapeless stems. All these qualities make them popular among beginner gardeners. Various types of milkweeds are found on almost all continents, although the homeland of most of them is Central Africa. Let's talk in more detail about one of the representatives of this large family - the African resinous milkweed, whose homeland is Morocco.
Description of the plant
Euphorbia resinous (Latin name - Euphorbia resinifera) is a shrub plant strongly branched at the base, reaching a height of 0.5-1.5 m, and a width of up to 2 m. Its shape resembles a pillow dotted with vertical fleshy tetrahedral stems of a bluish-green color. The sharpness of resinous milkweed is due to short paired dark brown spikes located on the ribs of the stems at a distance of about 1 cm from each other.friend. The leaves of the plant are reduced to small brown scales that quickly fall off the stems. During the flowering period, small, most often yellow-green inflorescences appear on the tops of the shoots, grouped in three on each stem. After the spurge has faded, instead of flowers, fruits are formed in somewhat flattened boxes.
Care instructions
This type of milkweed is often grown as an ornamental plant. Like many of its "relatives", resinous spurge can grow both in open ground and in pots, gardens and indoors. The southern plant perfectly takes root in a temperate climate, is not demanding on the composition of the soil, remarkably tolerates cold - in a word, it perfectly adapts to environmental conditions. However, as for any plant, there are optimal conditions that must be observed when caring for milkweed.
If spurge is grown indoors, then the lighting should be diffused, but bright enough. Watering requires moderate, and in winter it is completely minimal. Spurge milk is watered with settled water at room temperature. Note that this plant is completely insensitive to the composition of the soil and air humidity.
Methods of reproduction in an artificial environment
Propagation of milkweed can be done in the following ways:
- seeds,
- cuttings,
- dividing the bush.
The first breeding method is a rather time-consuming procedure. Ripe seeds are sown insmall pot, well watered, and then covered with a film, which is removed only after the first shoots appear.
When propagated by cuttings, the place of the cut on the mother plant must be covered with finely crushed coal. The cutting itself is recommended to be placed in a container with water until the roots form, or immediately planted in the ground.
Dividing a bush is the simplest method of reproduction of milkweed. Carry out the procedure in the spring, before the active growth of the plant. Small parts are carefully separated from the mother bush and planted in separate pots.
Chemical composition and application
Shoots of any plant of the Euphorbiaceae family are riddled with lactifers, which contain thick white milky juice. On exposure to air, it solidifies into small lumps of yellowish gum. The frozen milkweed juice contains resins, including efurbofon, mucus and gum, potassium and calcium malates, resiniferatoxin, and other substances. Attention: milkweed juice is poisonous! The components contained in its composition irritate the skin and mucous membranes, cause severe pain in the bones, paralytic pain in the joints, limbs, and headaches. Poisoning can also be identified by adverse gastrointestinal and respiratory symptoms.
However, milkweed juice also has beneficial properties. It is used in homeopathy for skin diseases and various inflammations, as well as a cure for diarrhea. In the past, it was widely used in veterinary medicine as soft patches, irritatingskin, as well as one of the ingredients of laxatives. Currently, in veterinary medicine, milkweed resin is used as an external blister in the form of ointments or patches, sometimes combined with spanish fly.
