Consuelda
Euphorbia tirucalli · Pencil cactus
- Names in the book
- Consuelda, Sp.-Fil.; Katwit, Suelda, Tag.
- Colours
- flowergreenish-yellow
- Native range
- Eastern and southern Africa
- In the Philippines, per the book
- Very common, especially in the suburbs of Manila where they serve as hedges.
- Family
- Euphorbiaceae, filed in the book under Euphorbiaceæ
- Printed as
- Euphorbia Tirucalli, L.
- Sources
- Page 213 on Project Gutenberg · Wikipedia
The plant today
Euphorbia tirucalli (commonly known as Indian tree spurge, naked lady, pencil tree, pencil cactus, fire stick, aveloz or milk bush) is a tree native to Africa that grows in semi-arid tropical climates. A hydrocarbon plant, it produces a poisonous latex that can cause temporary blindness.
Excerpt from “Euphorbia tirucalli” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recorded in the Philippines
GBIF holds 32 records of this plant from the Philippines. The ones with map coordinates fall in 11 provinces, most often Davao Oriental (6), Davao del Norte (4), Metropolitan Manila (3), Rizal (3), Bulacan (1), Cavite (1), Davao del Sur (1), Laguna (1), and 3 more.
Counts from GBIF occurrence records, October 2026. They include planted trees and garden plants, and a province with no records may only lack collectors.
What the 1901 book says
A historical record, quoted as printed. Doses and remedies here are not medical advice.
Uses
The milky juice of this species is very caustic. It is used chiefly in India mixed with oil as an embrocation for rheumatism; given internally it is regarded as an antisyphilitic. Dr. J. Shortt states that it is an excellent alterant in syphilis in dose of 30 centigrams, morning and evening. It is further employed in malarial hypertrophy of the spleen, in asthma and as a purgative; in a word the same virtues are attributed to it as to the foregoing species.
Botanical description
Small trees, 9–12° high. Trunk erect. Branches cylindrical, stumpy (not tapering), several very small leaves at the ends. Flowers yellowish, in umbels. Calyx, 5 rounded, fleshy sepals. Corolla, 5 groups of woolly hairs on the divisions of the calyx. Stamens 5, inserted on the sepals, with double or irregular anthers. Seed vessel, 3 carpels each with one seed.
Recent research
The most cited papers since 2022 that name this plant in the title, pulled from Europe PMC in October 2026. Titles are the authors' own and the findings have not been reviewed here.
- A new tigliane-type diterpenoid from Euphorbia tirucalli
- Chemical profile and cytotoxic evaluation of aerial parts of Euphorbia tirucalli L. on gastric adenocarcinoma (AGS cells)
- Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles with Euphorbia tirucalli extract and its protection against microbial decay of strawberries during storage