Euphorbia alluaudii | Pencil-branch euphorbia
€37,10
📍 Native to Madagascar, this cactus that looks like a land coral belongs to the Euphorbiaceae family..
🌱 Morphology
It looks like a small tree drawn with hundreds of green strokes: a trunk that gradually fades into the branches and a tangle of cylindrical, yellowish, and perfectly bare stems that cross and arch as if they were the branches of a land coral. During growth, small leaves appear at the ends, but they do not last long; when they fall, the plant once again displays its entire bare and sculptural architecture.
It is a succulent shrub or small, highly branched tree that can reach about 4 m in height in the wild and occasionally more under favorable conditions. The trunk can reach about 15–20 cm in diameter, and the branches are cylindrical, succulent, yellowish-green, and approximately 1–1.5 cm thick. They present constrictions that can mark successive growth phases. The leaves are small, deciduous, and concentrated mainly towards the ends of the young shoots, leaving scars when they fall. It has no thorns.
🌍 Distribution, habitat, and family
It is endemic to Madagascar, where it grows in dry forests, xerophytic scrublands, and rocky areas, mainly in the arid regions of the west and south of the island. It belongs to the Euphorbiaceae family. Kew currently recognizes two subspecies: Euphorbia alluaudii subsp. alluaudii and E. alluaudii subsp. oncoclada.
The species is listed as Least Concern (LC) by the IUCN, although some recent extinction risk predictions point to potential threats, so it is advisable to distinguish between the two assessments.
❄️ Temperature — USDA Zone 9b–11b
It tolerates minimum temperatures of down to −4 ºC only occasionally, provided it is completely dry, acclimatized, and protected from humidity. In cultivation, references are quite a bit more cautious and consider that frosts can seriously damage it; therefore, in Madrid, it must be kept protected during intense cold spells.
☀️ Lighting
It needs very intense lighting, with an approximate goal of 18–25 mol/m²/day of DLI PAR during active growth. Direct sun favors shorter, thicker, and more compact branches and accentuates the characteristic yellowish-green tone of the stems. In low light, it may produce longer, weaker growth.
💧 Growth cycle and watering
Winter rest. During the growth period, it is recommended to water abundantly and let the substrate dry out completely before watering again. In autumn, watering is gradually reduced, and during winter it should be kept practically dry. Watering is resumed gradually when temperatures rise and spring growth begins.
🌸 Flowering
The small yellowish-green cyathia appear in fairly loose clusters towards the ends of the branches. They are discreet compared to the plant's architecture, but they stand out against the bare stems. Flowering occurs mainly during the warm months; when cultivated in Madrid, it can appear between spring and summer, depending on temperatures and the onset of growth.
🌿 Nutrition
During the active growth period, a specific fertilizer for succulents with a high content of assimilable calcium, such as Desert CHOICE® Succulents, is recommended, applied once a month when watering.
This is an inimitable xerophyte grown in Madrid in a high-tech square pot with the substrate activated with mycorrhizal fungi and biofungicides.
📏 Xerophyte in a 14 x 14 x 14 cm black pot. (M)
📐 Approximate plant height: 19 cm.
* As this is an online purchase, the appearance of the specimen sent may vary slightly from the product image. The photo description specifies the plant's measurements, but this can also vary slightly, because it is a living being! Each of the Desert CITY plants has unique characteristics.
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