Species library › Euphorbia › Euphorbia virosa
Succulents Well documented

Euphorbia virosa

A large, spiny, candelabra-like shrubby Euphorbia of the arid Namib margins from southern Angola through Namibia to the Northern Cape. It wants blazing light, heat and very little water; its latex is highly poisonous and was used as an arrow poison, so handle it with gloves.

Euphorbia virosa
Photo: Willyman, CC BY-SA 4.0, 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

Rocky hillsides, gravel plains and dry riverbeds in desert and semi-desert, fully exposed among scattered shrubs.

Roughly 300–1,400 m at the recorded sites.

NamibiaSouth Africa (Northern Cape)Angola (southwest)

🔒 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

Grow Euphorbia virosa? Add it to a free garden and its full profile opens. Pro opens all 38,374 profiles in the library, plants and fungi.

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 4.0 licence, unmodified.