Species
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Euphorbia umbellata (Pax) Bruyns

Euphorbiaceae

Climate known 22 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 umbellata, the African milkbush, is a species in the spurge family from Africa.

Text from Wikipedia, “Euphorbia umbellata”, 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
(Pax) Bruyns
Native to
Burundi, Rwanda, Zaïre +4
Wild records
33 in range· 30 open

At a glance

Warmest month
27°C
Feb, mean day; nights 16 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1076mm/yr
10 wet months · peak Apr 183 mm (CHELSA)
Light
32–39DLI
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 sharp rainy season, March to May and October to December at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (1.5 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 1076 mm a year, wettest April at 183 mm, driest July at 15 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 32 to 39 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 13.4 °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 pseudograntii Bruyns; Synadenium grantii Hook.f.; Synadenium umbellatum Pax; Synadenium umbellatum var. puberulum N.E.Br.

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 sharp rainy season, March to May and October to December at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (1.5 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

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

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (768 mm of 1076 mm) falls in March to May and October to December. The temperature curve is flat, 1.5 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere, within 10° of the equator; with no thermal season there there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

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 1076 mm a year, wettest April at 183 mm, driest July at 15 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1076 mm a year at the habitat, 768 mm of it March to May and October to December. Wettest month April at 183 mm, driest July at 15 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 743 mm to 1619 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: 32 to 39 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 32 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 28, 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 13.4 °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 13.4 °C, the absolute minimum 11.2 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.1 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 15.2 °C in July (across the envelope cells 11.4 °C to 18.7 °C), warmest day 26.8 °C in February (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 13.4 °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: 57 to 63% 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 25 °C in May to 27 °C in Feb; mean night from 15 °C in Jul to 17 °C in Apr. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 1076 mm of rain a year, most in Apr. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 32 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 11.2 °C and the 99th-percentile day 33.1 °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°33.1° 99th-percentile day (undated)11.2° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 32–39RH 57–63 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 32 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 °C26 / 24–2927 / 24–3027 / 24–3025 / 23–2925 / 22–2925 / 21–2825 / 20–2826 / 20–2827 / 22–3026 / 23–3025 / 22–3025 / 23–29
Night °C16 / 13–2116 / 13–2116 / 14–2117 / 14–2116 / 14–2115 / 12–1915 / 11–1916 / 12–1916 / 12–2016 / 13–2016 / 13–2116 / 13–21
Rain mm98 / 47–17590 / 44–159130 / 87–200183 / 121–236108 / 85–16721 / 6–9615 / 2–9127 / 6–11957 / 9–113108 / 31–169140 / 75–26199 / 68–202
DLI37 / 33–4139 / 34–4338 / 34–4133 / 30–3632 / 29–3532 / 28–3432 / 28–3533 / 30–3637 / 34–4036 / 32–4034 / 30–3936 / 32–39
RH %59 / 55–6458 / 54–6360 / 56–6663 / 60–6862 / 59–6758 / 52–6457 / 48–6257 / 49–6257 / 52–6159 / 52–6561 / 55–6761 / 58–66

Each figure is the median across the 32 grid cells holding the 33 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 1820:4227 (-1.025, 31.375). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 11.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 13.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.1 °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 32 distinct grid cells holding the 33 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1820:4227 (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 -1.00_31.250, lapse-corrected -73 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1179 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, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda· introduced: Bangladesh, India
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-2.18, 29.59 · in the densest population, 29 records (88% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 33 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 30 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 41 km away. 156 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 33 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Euphorbia umbellataEuphorbia umbellataEuphorbia umbellataEuphorbia umbellataEuphorbia umbellataEuphorbia umbellataEuphorbia umbellataEuphorbia umbellata

Photographs: (c) Karthik Thrikkadeeri, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); no rights reserved · CC0 (6).

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 umbellata, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Anti-ulcer mechanisms of polyphenols extract of Euphorbia umbellata (Pax) Bruyns (Euphorbiaceae)
Bruno Rodrigo Minozzo, Bruna Mikulis Lemes, Aline da Silva Justo, Jheniffer Ellen Lara (2016) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Cytotoxic biomonitored study of Euphorbia umbellata (Pax) Bruyns
Lívia Eidam Camargo Luz, Carla Cristine Kanunfre, Kátia Sabrina Paludo, Aline da Silva Justo (2016) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Pharmacokinetics and cytotoxic study of euphol from Euphorbia umbellata (Bruyns) Pax latex
Luíza Stolz Cruz, Thais Latansio de Oliveira, Carla Cristine Kanunfre, Kátia Sabrina Paludo (2018) · Phytomedicine
Cytotoxicity of latex and pharmacobotanical study of leaves and stem of Euphorbia umbellata (Janaúba)
Lívia Eidam Camargo Luz, Kátia Sabrina Paludo, Vera Lúcia Pereira dos Santos, Célia Regina Cavichiolo Franco (2015) · Revista Brasileira de Farmacognosia
Molluscicidal effect of Euphorbia umbellata (Pax) Bruyns latex on Biomphalaria glabrata, Schistosoma mansoni host snail
Luciana Patrícia Lima Alves Pereira, Clarice Noleto Dias, Milena Valadar Miranda, Wellyson da Cunha Araújo Firmo (2017) · Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo
Phorbol Esters from the Latex of Euphorbia umbellata: Bioguided Isolation of Highly Potent HIV-1 Latency Interrupters in Virus Reservoir Cells
João B. F. Tostes, Andressa L. D. Carvalho, Antonio J. Ribeiro da Silva, Pedro Junior Pinheiro Mourão (2021) · Journal of Natural Products
Euphorbia umbellata bark extracts – an in vitro cytotoxic study
Carla Cristine Kanunfre, Talissa Leffers, Luíza Stolz Cruz, Lívia Eidam Camargo Luz (2016) · Revista Brasileira de Farmacognosia
Computer‐Guided Trypanocidal Activity of Natural Lactones Produced by Endophytic Fungus of Euphorbia umbellata
Amanda Santos Gusmão, Lucas Silva Abreu, Josean Fechine Tavares, Humberto Fonseca de Freitas (2021) · Chemistry & Biodiversity
Physicochemical, biological and release studies of chitosan membranes incorporated with Euphorbia umbellata fraction
Bruna Mikulis Lemes, Andressa Novatski, Priscileila Colerato Ferrari, Bruno Rodrigo Minozzo (2018) · Revista Brasileira de Farmacognosia
Enriched Terpenes Fractions of the Latex of Euphorbia umbellata Promote Apoptosis in Leukemic Cells
Luíza Stolz Cruz, Carla Cristine Kanunfre, Evelyn Assis de Andrade, Alexandre Alves de Oliveira (2020) · Chemistry & Biodiversity
Reactivation of latent HIV-1 in vitro using an ethanolic extract from Euphorbia umbellata (Euphorbiaceae) latex
Ana Luiza Chaves Valadão, Paula Pezzuto, Viviane Aline Oliveira Silva, Barbara Simonson Gonçalves (2018) · PLoS ONE
Immunomodulatory and cytotoxic activities of euphol
Thais Latansio de Oliveira, Lorena Bavia, Pâmela Dias Fontana, Luíza Stolz Cruz (2021) · Life Sciences

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 45 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.