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Species library › Euphorbia › Euphorbia tirucalli
Succulents Well documented

Euphorbia tirucalli

The pencil tree: a shrub or small tree of nearly leafless, pencil-thick green stems. In the wild it grows in hot, dry scrub and open woodland, here in western and southern Madagascar. It needs strong sun, warmth and a long dry season, and its milky latex is highly irritant.

Euphorbia tirucalli
Photo: Ton Rulkens, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day IntermediateTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Dry airBand in Plantistry
Light Full sunDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
Expects a seasonal restGrows in the ground

Where it grows wild

Dry deciduous forest, spiny thicket and coastal scrub on sand and limestone, often in open sun at the edges of thickets.

Lowland, recorded from 15 to about 460 m.

Madagascar

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates
✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it
✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light
✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it
✓ Substrate and airflow
✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY-SA 2.0 licence, unmodified.