Family: Euphorbiaceae
Euphorbia unispina (candle plant) is a spiny candelabriform, sparsely branching shrub native from from Guinea and Mali east to southern Sudan. It grows on rocky hills and slopes in savanna and is locally common. In its native range, it is sometimes planted in gardens as an ornamental plant or as a hedge around fields and graveyards, and is sometimes cultivated in Europe and the United States as a rare pot plant in succulent collections.
There are no documented reports of naturalization or invasiveness outside its native range, but this may be due to limited cultivation elsewhere in the world. Caution should be exercised if growing this plant due its spines, and to the caustic and toxic latex that could poison animals and humans.
High Risk Traits:
- Grows and could potentially spread in regions with arid, tropical climates
- Other Euphorbia species are invasive or high-risk weeds
- Leaf stipules modified into 2 stout spines, 6-10 mm long
- Presumably unpalatable to animals due to latex and spines
- Latex caustic and toxic to animals and people
- Tolerates many soil types (as long as well-drained)
- Reproduces by seed
- Presumably self-compatible, but primarily outcrossing
- Seeds dispersed by ballistic dehiscence and through intentional cultivation
- Gaps in biological and ecological information may reduce accuracy of the risk prediction
Low Risk Traits:
- No reports of invasive or negative impacts where cultivated (but limited evidence outside native range)
- Grows best in high light environments (dense shade may inhibit spread)
