- Euphorbia resinifera
Taxobox
name = "Euphorbia resinifera"
image_width = 250px
regnum =Plant ae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Magnoliopsida
ordo =Malpighiales
familia =Euphorbiaceae
genus = "Euphorbia "
species = "E. resinifera"
binomial = "Euphorbia resinifera"
binomial_authority =A.Berger. "Euphorbia resinifera" (Resin spurge) is a species of spurge native to
Morocco , where it occurs on the slopes of theAtlas Mountains .Huxley, A, ed. (1992). "New RHS Dictionary of Gardening". ISBN 0-333-47494-5]It is a
shrub growing to 60 cm tall, forming multi-stemmed cushion-shaped clumps up to 2 m wide. The stems are erect,succulent , superficially like acactus (an example ofconvergent evolution in a similar semi-desert climate), four-angled, with short but sharp pairs of 6 mm spines on the angles, spaced about 1 cm apart up the stem.It is similar to its relative "
Euphorbia echinus ", which occurs on the Moroccan coast and theCanary Island s.It contains a high concentration of
resiniferatoxin and is being used to develop a novel and powerful class ofanalgesic s. [Appendino, G. & Szallasi, A. (1997) Euphorbium: Modern research on its active principle, resiniferatoxin, revives an ancient medicine. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0024-3205(96)00567-X] ]References
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