Species
+

Euphorbia ingens E.Mey. ex Boiss.

Cactus Euphorbia, Cactus spurge, Candelabra Tree, Common Naboom

Climate known 44 photographs Cactus or succulent
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Euphorbia ingens is a species of flowering plant in the family Euphorbiaceae. It is native to dry areas of southern Africa. It is popularly known as the candelabra tree or naboom. Its milky latex can be extremely poisonous and is a dangerous irritant.

Text from Wikipedia, “Euphorbia ingens”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Euphorbia

Euphorbia is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants, commonly called spurge, in the family Euphorbiaceae.

Text from Wikipedia, “Euphorbia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Euphorbiaceae
Described by
E.Mey. ex Boiss.
Native to
Burundi, Rwanda, Zaïre +16
Wild records
1659 in range· 330 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Jan, mean day; nights 18 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
682mm/yr
7 wet months · peak Jan 116 mm (CHELSA)
Light
26–39DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a cactus or succulent by the genus Euphorbia, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to September in the northern hemisphere (November to March at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 682 mm a year, wettest January at 116 mm, driest July at 9 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 39 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 7.7 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Euphorbia bilocularis N.E.Br.; Euphorbia candelabrum var. bilocularis (N.E.Br.) S.Carter; Euphorbia confertiflora Volkens; Euphorbia reinhardtii Volkens; Euphorbia reinhardtii var. bilocularis (N.E.Br.) Oudejans and 2 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent by the genus Euphorbia, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to September in the northern hemisphere (November to March at the habitat, southern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (510 mm of 682 mm) falls in November to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 22.4 °C against a yearly mean of 20.0 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: May to September.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 682 mm a year, wettest January at 116 mm, driest July at 9 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

682 mm a year at the habitat, 510 mm of it November to March. Wettest month January at 116 mm, driest July at 9 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 544 mm to 1098 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 39 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 39 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 7.7 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 7.7 °C, the absolute minimum 5.5 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.8 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 10.1 °C in July (across the envelope cells 5.2 °C to 15.7 °C), warmest day 27.6 °C in January (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 7.7 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 54 to 59% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 21 °C in Jul to 28 °C in Jan; mean night from 10 °C in Jul to 18 °C in Feb. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 682 mm of rain a year, most in Jan. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 905 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 5.5 °C and the 99th-percentile day 33.8 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°33.8° 99th-percentile day (undated)5.5° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 26–39RH 54–59 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 905 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C28 / 25–3028 / 25–3027 / 25–3025 / 23–2824 / 21–2722 / 19–2621 / 19–2623 / 21–2726 / 23–2927 / 23–3027 / 23–3027 / 24–30
Night °C18 / 14–2118 / 14–2117 / 14–2015 / 12–1913 / 9–1811 / 6–1610 / 5–1611 / 8–1613 / 11–1715 / 13–1916 / 14–2017 / 14–21
Rain mm116 / 56–17599 / 46–16689 / 61–13744 / 26–17219 / 7–11712 / 4–519 / 2–3911 / 2–5119 / 5–7058 / 24–10897 / 68–134109 / 73–161
DLI39 / 36–4339 / 35–4336 / 32–4132 / 27–3728 / 24–3626 / 22–3527 / 23–3432 / 26–3737 / 30–4239 / 31–4338 / 33–4238 / 35–43
RH %59 / 55–6559 / 54–6559 / 55–6459 / 54–6456 / 51–6254 / 50–6054 / 48–6054 / 47–5954 / 46–6056 / 49–6358 / 53–6459 / 55–64

Each figure is the median across the 905 grid cells holding the 1578 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2107:4306 (-15.375, 35.325). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 5.5 °C, 1st-percentile night 7.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.8 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 905 distinct grid cells holding the 1578 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2107:4306 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -15.50_35.625, lapse-corrected +422 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1113 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBurundi, Rwanda, Zaïre, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Caprivi Strip, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Northern Provinces
Kew's description“succulent tree” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-23.894, 29.758 · in the densest population, 727 records (44% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1659 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 330 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 348 km away. 103 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 81 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 1659 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Euphorbia ingensEuphorbia ingensEuphorbia ingensEuphorbia ingensEuphorbia ingensEuphorbia ingensEuphorbia ingensEuphorbia ingens

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0; (c) Chris Vynbos, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) Shaun Swanepoel, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Luis G Restrepo, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Rob Foster, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Euphorbia ingens, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

New diterpenoid irritants from euphorbia ingens
H. J. Opferkuch, E. Hecker (1974) · Tetrahedron Letters
Novel ophiostomatalean fungi from galleries of Cyrtogenius africus (Scolytinae) infesting dying Euphorbia ingens
J.A. Van der Linde, Diana L. Six, Z. Wilhelm de Beer, Michael J. Wingfield (2016) · Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
Ingol - a new macrocyclic diterpene alcohol from euphorbia ingens
H. J. Opferkuch, E. Hecker (1973) · Tetrahedron Letters
Die-off of giant Euphorbia trees in South Africa: Symptoms and relationships to climate
J.A. Van der Linde, Jolanda Roux, Michael J. Wingfield, Diana L. Six (2012) · South African Journal of Botany
Lasiodiplodiaspecies associated with dyingEuphorbia ingensin South Africa
J.A. Van der Linde, Diana L. Six, Michael J. Wingfield, Jolanda Roux (2011) · Southern Forests a Journal of Forest Science
Ingenol Protects Human T Cells From HIV-1 Infection
Kee‐Jong Hong, Hak Sung Lee, Yeong-shik Kim, Sung Soon Kim (2011) · Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives
COCARCINOGENE WIRKSTOFFE AUS EUPHORBIACEEN
E. Hecker (1968) · Planta Medica
Phytochemical screening and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis of Euphorbia ingens organic root extract
Oluwaseun Okpako Innocent, A. Ng’ong’a Florence, C. Kyama Mutinda, N. Njeru Sospeter (2023) · Journal of Medicinal Plants Research
New species of Gondwanamyces from dying Euphorbia trees in South Africa
J.A. Van der Linde, Diana L. Six, Michael J. Wingfield, Jolanda Roux (2012) · Mycologia
Antiproliferative activity of ethyl acetate fraction of Euphorbia ingens against prostate cancer cell line: An in silico and in vitro analysis
Innocent Oluwaseun Okpako, Florence Ng’ong’a, Cleophas Kyama, Sospeter Ngoci Njeru (2023) · Scientific African

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Euphorbia 29 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 25 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.