€26,50

🌱 Morphology
It looks like a small tree that has learned to defend itself. Its thick green branches rise and branch out, forming an almost tree-like architecture, while large, fleshy leaves appear clustered at the ends as if they were small crowns. When the leaves fall, the pairs of thorns that accompanied them are revealed, transforming the branches into a true botanical armor.

It is a succulent shrub that, over the years, can reach several meters in height and acquire a tree-like habit. The stems are fleshy, cylindrical, or slightly angular, generally with five faint ribs arranged in a spiral. Above them appear separate tubercles, equipped with small shields from which pairs of rigid thorns, approximately 4–12 mm long, are born. The leaves are alternate, fleshy, leathery, and oblanceolate or obovate in shape, about 6–20 cm long; they are concentrated towards the ends of the branches and are deciduous during the dry season. It produces abundant white latex.

🌍 Distribution, habitat, and family
It is a tropical and subtropical species from Asia, with a documented distribution in the Indian subcontinent, Myanmar, and other regions of Southeast Asia; it is currently also introduced or cultivated in numerous tropical areas. It grows mainly in warm, seasonally dry environments and is traditionally used as a hedge plant due to its armed branches. It belongs to the Euphorbiaceae family.

❄️ Temperature — USDA Zone 9b–11b
It tolerates minimum temperatures down to −4 ºC only occasionally under conditions of absolute dryness and good acclimatization; however, specific cultivation references are much more cautious and indicate that it can survive down to approximately 0 ºC when kept completely dry, with frost avoidance recommended.

☀️ Lighting
It requires intense lighting, with a target of approximately 18–25 mol/m²/day of DLI PAR during growth. It tolerates direct sun once acclimatized, although it can also grow with some protection from the most intense sun. High radiation promotes compact stems and good leaf formation.

💧 Growth cycle and irrigation
Winter rest. During the active growth period, it is recommended to water abundantly and let the substrate dry out completely before the next watering. In winter, watering should be greatly reduced and the plant kept practically dry, especially when temperatures are low. Excess moisture around the roots during cold weather must be avoided.

🌸 Flowering
Small cyathia appear in axillary clusters, generally at the terminal ends of the branches. The floral structures feature yellowish nectar glands, and the flowers are inconspicuous compared to the plant's habit. It is a monoecious species, with male and female flowers present on the same specimen.

🌿 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 during watering.

This is an inimitable xerophyte grown in Madrid in a high-tech square pot, with the substrate activated with mycorrhizal fungi and biofungicides.

14x14 cm gourmet pot

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