• Scientific Name: Euphorbia milii Des Moul.
• Ref: Bull. Hist. Nat. Soc. Linn. Bordeaux 1:27. 1826
• Synonyms: Euphorbia breonii Nois.; Euphorbia splendens var. breonii Leandri
• English Common Name: crown of thorns, Christ plant, Christ thorn
• Chinese Common Name: 铁海棠 tiě∙hǎitáng, 虎刺梅 hǔcì∙méi, 麒麟花 qílín∙huā
• Japanese Common Name: ハナキリン [花麒麟] hanakirin
• Family: Euphorbiaceae
• Genus: Euphorbia
• Distribution: Cultivated and escaped. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [native to Madagascar; widely cultivated elsewhere].
• Photo: 06/18/2009, Xiamen, Fujian

Shrubs, scrambling, many branched, 60-90 cm. Stems obscurely 3-5-angled, densely spiny. Leaves alternate, clustered at stem apex; stipules forming spines 1-1.3(-2) cm; petiole absent or nearly so; leaf blade obovate to oblong-oblanceolate, 1.5-5 × 0.8-1.8 cm, base attenuate, margin entire, apex rounded. Cyathia in subapical, dichasial cymes, peduncle 4-7 cm; cyathophylls 2, reniform-rounded, 8-10 × 12-14 mm, usually bright red (pink, white, or yellow in some cultivars), apex rounded; involucre campanulate, 3-4 × 3.5-4 mm, lobes 5, lanceolate; glands 5, reniform-rounded, ca. 1 × 2 mm, yellow-red. Male flowers many; bracteoles linear, apex pilose. Female flower: ovary smooth and glabrous, usually included with involucre; styles connate below middle; stigma 2-lobed. Capsule 3-lobed-ovoid, ca. 3.5 × 4 mm, smooth and glabrous. Seeds ovoid-terete, ca. 2.5 × 2 mm, gray-brown, reticulate; caruncle absent. Fl. and fr. all year. (Flora of China)

06/18/2009, Xiamen, Fujian