What Are The Health Benefits Of Euphorbia Candelabrum?

What Are The Health Benefits Of Euphorbia Candelabrum?

Several drops of latex diluted in water are used to cure coughs and tuberculosis, as well as an emetic and abortifacient in Central Africa. Latex is also used to treat wounds, blisters, and warts. To treat malaria, the Loita Maasai people combine latex with fat and apply it to the body.

To discharge the placenta, women are given a decoction of the pith of the branches shortly after childbirth.

Roots are boiled with chicken or beef, or with stomach fluids from a slaughtered goat or cow, and the liquid is consumed as a strong emetic to treat stomach ache, severe constipation, and infertility in Kenya and Tanzania.

Latex is used as a strong purgative in oatmeal and to treat HIV infection. Latex is also used to treat cow wounds and sores in Kenya. Powdered stem ash is used to treat eye infections.

Latex is a component in arrow poison. Freshly pounded branches are placed into watering holes and streams to poison fish and wild animals.

Although the smoke is irritating, the stems can be utilized as firewood. Roofs, tables, doors, matches, boxes, mortars, musical instruments, and saddles are all made from the light, durable wood.

To produce beehives, the trunk is split in half and hollowed out before being re-joined. Cut branches are utilized as fencing and shade plants.

Euphorbia candelabrum flowers generate a lot of nectar, but the honey induces a burning feeling in the mouth, which is exacerbated by drinking water. Birdlime is made from sticky latex.

Note that when latex comes into contact with the eyes, it is extremely poisonous and can result in blindness. It also causes blisters and is irritant to the skin and mucous membranes.

What Is The Common Name Of Euphorbia Candelabrum?

Euphorbia candelabrum is a succulent plant species in the Euphorbiaceae family, and one of numerous plants known as candelabra trees.

It is closely related to three other Euphorbia species: Euphorbia ingens from the dry parts of South Africa, Euphorbia conspicua from western Angola, and Euphorbia abyssinica from Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Somalia.

Its Latin name comes from its growth habit, which is commonly said to mimic the branching of a candelabrum. Candelabra trees can be found in rocky slopes, dry deciduous and evergreen open woodland grasslands, and, on rare occasions, termite mounds.

The habitat range of Euphorbia candelabrum shrinks when rainfall rates decrease. Trees normally grow to reach 12 meters tall, however some examples have been documented growing to be 20 meters tall.

The East African Rift system is home to E. candelabrum, which is native to the Horn of Africa and eastern Africa. In Ethiopia, it is known as qwolqwal in Amharic and adaamii in Oromo.

Is Euphorbia Candelabrum Toxic?

Although Euphorbia candelabrum is highly toxic, it has a variety of medical applications. Its latex includes extremely irritating ingenol diterpene esters that are both dangerous and beneficial.

In addition to blistering and irritation, ingenol compounds promote tumor growth by encouraging cells to resist apoptosis and continue to reproduce. However, ingenol is advantageous in that it promotes anti-HIV and anti-leukemia cellular activity, which protects T-cells.

Of a 1961 study, three out of 40 mice developed papilloma when treated with DMBA alone, however only three out of 100 mice developed papilloma when treated with Euphorbia latices, demonstrating that plants in the Euphorbiaceae family are highly potent anti-tumor agents.

What Is Euphorbia Candelabrum?

Euphorbia candelabrum is a succulent tree with branches that grow virtually erect from 3 meters up, rebranching to form a wide, broadly rounded crown. The tree typically grows to a height of 12 meters, while specimens as large as 20 meters have been observed.

The bole has a diameter of up to 90cm. Only juvenile plants have leaves, with photosynthesis carried out by the green, cactus-like stems. When the plant is wounded, it exudes a large amount of latex.

The plant is gathered in the wild for use as a medicine and a source of wood by the locals. It’s planted in live fences and used as a decorative.

How Do You Tell Euphorbia Candelabrum?

It is a monoecious, succulent small tree up to 12(–20) m tall with abundant latex; bole up to 90 cm in diameter; bark grey, roughly fissured; branches persistent from c. 3 m upwards, almost erect, rebranching, forming a large, broadly rounded crown, terminal branches fleshy, 5–10 cm in diameter.

It is constricted at irregular intervals into oblong segments 15–25 cm long, usually 4-angled, with wings Leaves in 4 rows, sessile; stipules changed into little spines; blade deltoid, c. 5 mm 5 mm, soon dropping, in young plants up to c. 7 cm 1.5 cm.

The peduncle is 5–20 mm long, branches 2, c. 5 mm long; bracts 2, c. 5 mm long; cyathia c. 4 mm 9 mm, with a cup-shaped involucre, lobes c. 2.5 mm long, glands 5, transversely elliptical, c. 2 mm 4 mm, golden-yellow, each involucre containing 1 female flower Flowers are monosexual.

Is Euphorbia Candelabrum Edible?

Despite evidence that E. candelabrum latex is extremely poisonous and unpleasant, baboons appear unfazed and regularly consume it.

Research conducted in Queen Elizabeth Park in West Uganda discovered that baboon feeding patterns are responsible for much of the damage done to E. candelabrum trees.

Climbing baboons break off fresh, immature E. candelabrum branches, resulting in uneven growth. Furthermore, baboon feeding patterns influence the life cycle of E. candelabrum blooms, causing sterility in many of the juvenile stems.

What Are The Dangers Of Euphorbia Candelabrum?

Various components of E. candelabrum plants can be utilized as poisons. The Ova Herero people of Namibia use its latex as an ingredient in arrow poison to increase lethality, while the Damara people will often use E. candelabrum latex extract or freshly pounded branches to poison water holes and streams.

Its flowers produce nectar but ingestion of E. candelabrum honey can cause a burning sensation in the mouth and drinking water only intensifies it.

How Do You Control Euphorbia Candelabrum?

Euphorbia candelabrum is generally regarded as a weed due to its aggressive root system. To control and manage Euphorbia candelabrum, a combination of ground applications, cutting, and girdling are used.

Ground application is especially used to kill young seedlings or juvenile Euphorbia candelabrum’s. Cutting and girdling are used for larger plants.

How Big Does Euphorbia Candelabrum Get?

Euphorbia candelabrum is a succulent tree with branches that grow virtually erect from 3 meters up, rebranching to form a wide, broadly rounded crown.

The tree typically grows to a height of 12 meters, while specimens as large as 20 meters have been observed. The bole has a diameter of up to 90cm. Only juvenile plants have leaves, with photosynthesis carried out by the green, cactus-like stems.

Where Does Euphorbia Candelabrum Grow?

Grewia and Euphorbiaceae are considered fire-sensitive and are often relegated to termite mounds rather than dominating the open savanna.

However, Euphorbia candelabrum has been discovered to be extremely common in the savanna and short-grass sections of Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park.

Tall succulents have been shown to be poor invaders of often burned stands of land, therefore this is an uncommon home for them.

The development of Euphorbia candelabrum as a tall succulent appears to be due to overgrazing by African mammals such as the Ugandan kob (Kobus kob Erxleben) and waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus defassa Ogilby) as well as a decrease in intense wildfires.

This species is further subdivided into two varieties: Euphorbia candelabrum var. bilocularis and Euphorbia candelabrum var. candelabrum.

What Are The Other Uses Of Euphorbia Candelabrum?

Euphorbia candelabrum has been utilized in agroforestry for firewood, timber, and fencing. Its wood is light and durable, and it is used for a variety of things including as roofing, tables, doors, matches, boxes, mortars, musical instruments, and saddles.

Traditional Ethiopian medicine made use of Euphorbia candelabrum. Its sap was used as a purgative to heal syphilis when mixed with clarified honey, and as a salve to treat the symptoms of leprosy when mixed with other medicinal herbs. This plant currently has no commercial value, though Richard Pankhurst recalls two separate attempts to collect its gum near Keren in Eritrea before 1935, neither of which proved commercially viable.

Why Is It Called Euphorbia Candelabrum?

Euphorbia candelabrum is a succulent tree with branches that grow virtually erect from 3 meters up, rebranching to form a wide, broadly rounded crown.

Its Latin name comes from its growth habit, which is commonly said to mimic the branching of a candelabrum. Candelabra trees can be found in rocky slopes, dry deciduous and evergreen open woodland grasslands, and, on rare occasions, termite mounds.

The habitat range of Euphorbia candelabrum shrinks when rainfall rates decrease. Trees normally grow to reach 12 meters tall, however some examples have been documented growing to be 20 meters tall.

The East African Rift system is home to E. candelabrum, which is native to the Horn of Africa and eastern Africa. In Ethiopia, it is known as qwolqwal in Amharic and adaamii in Oromo.