euphorbia milii (crown of thorns)

euphorbia milii, commonly called the crown of thorns, is an old pot and house plant. in the tropics and subtropics it has been long used as a landscape plant, valued for its toughness.

this little shrub is a popular house plant. many varieties and hybrids are available varying in flower size and colour from red to yellow. it blooms freely most of the year. it normally becomes dormant in the warm season (summer)… don't throw it away if it loses its leaves. as with the other euphorbias, its sap is poisonous, it irritates the skin, and can cause temporary blindness if it goes in the eyes.

usually euphorbias continuously lose their bottom leaves, so they have bare trunk with bunches of leaves at the ends of branches. it is normal for old-fashioned euphorbias. lately new hybrids of euphorbia milii do not lose the bottom leaves and grow into nice looking bush sprinkled with bright-coloured flowers. this type of euphorbias need a bit more watering, otherwise it will lose the leaves too.

my sister, yew kim, gave me a pot of this plant. in fact, she wanted to give me more; however, i told her that my place/corridor was already like a jungle. i nurtured it for a few weeks and now it is 'flowering'.

she told me that propagation is quite easy - you just break off the thorny stem and stick it into the soil. a new plant will grow from it in due course. actually, it is not as easy as that. you have to dry the stem before sticking it into a pot and the soil should not be too wet or too dry.