It is a member of the euphorbia genus widespread in Africa. The spiked vertebrate fits the shared imagination of the Devil’s appearance. Its scientific name means foot-shaped flower. You are bound to fall in love with its unique green stem, which looks like a crooked spine. It is native to warmer parts of North America, including Florida and Central America, but isn’t known to be invasive outside of its native range. The rather ominous moniker, ‘Devil’s Backbone’ comes from the plant’s thorns that appear on the stem and resemble a vertebral column only with thorns. This easy succulent tropical plant is a perennial erect shrub from the spurge family originating from Central America. John Kunkel Small (1869-1938), who served as the first Curator of Museums at New York Botanical Garden, and travelled extensively across Florida to document its flora and landmarks. The devil’s backbone plant, Pedilanthus tithymaloides, is a solid plant for any indoor garden and can survive outdoors in hardiness zones warmer than zone 9a. Subspecies epithet 'smallii' named after American botanist Dr. Arnold with all rights reserved intended for future inclusion in Landscape Plants For Texas And Envi- rons, Fourth Edition. Species epithet 'tithymaloides' means resembling the genus Tithymalus (defunct, now synonym of Euphorbia) - an ancient Greek name for a group of plants with milky sap. The devil’s backbone is an easy-care, low-maintenance tropical plant to grow and nurture. Devils Backbone - Pedilanthus tithymaloides Size - Multiple A fun, easy to grow plant If allowed, it will get very big and the leaves will change from. Ancient Greek philosopher Pliny recounted that Juba called a plant he found at Mount Atlas Euphorbia in honour of his physician. Genus epithet 'Euphorbia' named after Euphorbus - physician to Juba II, King of Mauretania (52BC- 23AD). The plant is called devil’s backbone for the zigzag form some varieties exhibit as well as shoe flower. Acrid sap from damaged leaves, stems and roots may irritate skin, toxic if ingested. devil’s backbone, ( Euphorbia tithymaloides ), also called redbird cactus or shoe flower, succulent plant of the spurge family ( Euphorbiaceae ), native from Florida to Venezuela. Prefers well-drained soils with medium fertility. A very cool plant with a wicked name, the Devils Backbone is named because of its zig zag stem and beautiful foliage. Withstands drought, but sheds leaves under extreme dryness. Subspecies differentiated from species form by cupped leaves and more distinctly zigzag stems. Leaves fleshy, crinkled, concavely-cupped like tortoise shells, glossy grey-green with white margins, held close to stems (thus a likely inspiration for its tradename).įleshy, powdery grey-green, zigzag and very upright, exude milky sap when cut or bruised. Succulent herbaceous sub-shrub, up to around 1m height, with erect form and limited branching.
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