Kampala Tree and Palm Directory

Tree Species
Common Name
Tree Description
Tree Uses

English: Poinsettia, Bird-of-paradise flower, Christmas flower.

+ Tree Species

Euphorbia pulcherrima

+ Tree Family

Euphorbiaceae

+ Ecology

Poinsettias are native to tropical forests of southern Mexico and Central America, where they grow in the wild as bushes or small trees. It grows under minimum temperature of 13-15°C (55-59°F) during the flowering season. It is a deciduous tropical forest; hot, seasonally dry forest; moist or wet, wooded ravines.

+ Description

A small tree or shrub up to 4 m tall with few, stout, hairless branches

BARK: smooth, green.

LEAVES: relatively thin, usually 12-20 cm long with pointed tips. They are borne on long, slender petioles (leaf stalks). The leaves are dark green, oval leaves and “toothed" on the sides

FLOWERS: Each tiny, petal-less female flower is surrounded by male flowers in a cup-shaped series of bracts known as a cyathium. Each cyathium bears a two-lipped, yellow gland. The green and yellow cyathia are in turn surrounded by a series of large, bright red bracts.

FRUITS: Tri-lobed capsules, about 1.5 × 1.5-2.0 cm.

+ Uses

It’s widely cultivated as a garden ornamental.

Poinsettia latex has been used as a hair removal cream.

A red dye has been obtained from the bracts.

Medicine: the latex has been used as a remedy for toothache and to cause vomiting.

+ Propagation

Stem cuttings.

+ Management

Pruning.

+ Remarks

Occasional abdominal pain with vomiting and diarrhoea when ingested; redness, swelling, blisters after some delay following frequent contact with skin.



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