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by Kara
(Spruce Grove)

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I have a tall, upright plant which I inherited from my grandmother years ago. Not sure if it’s a cactus or a succulent. The stalks are triangular shaped with spikes growing out of the edges. Near the top of the stalks grow soft leaves, which eventually dry up and fall off

Comments for Tall spiny plant

Dec 05, 2014

African Milk Tree
by: Lupe

I have the same plant, it prefers sunlight. I keep mine with morning sun and afternoon partial shade during the extreme hot summer days.

I think to maintain the maroon color on the stem and small leaves it needs light.When I propagated mine, I took the cutting from the central stem with several stems branching out from the top.

All the cuttings from the main central stem that were branching made roots and the top part of 6 inches main central stem took; the rest of the central stem below didn’t, it was just hollow.


Sep 16, 2014

Use caution…
by: Jacki

And wear gloves and eye protection when handling. I don’t have any personal experience with this plant, but you may want to do this outside, and on newspaper or something that you can dispose of.

To prune it, just cut off the top parts of the plant, and you can allow the cut pieces to dry, and plant them. They’ll root too, apparently.

Let me know if this works for you!


Sep 16, 2014

Thank you, Jackie!
by: Kara

I thought maybe it was something like that but wasn’t sure so thanks for the confirmation. Any tips on how to transplant or trim it down?


Sep 16, 2014

Euphorbia
by: Jacki

Your plant is a poisonous one, so please do be careful handling it. I’m sure that your grandmother wouldn’t wish you to be hurt by it.

This is Euphorbia trigona, or the African Milk Tree. It’s called that because the sap is white and looks like milk. This is the poisonous part of the plant, and can cause blindness, and is caustic as well, and will cause dermatitis.

You can see more about it on this page on Daves Garden Website.