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Euphorbia milii White
Ideally placed in partial shade, can tolerate sunny sites.
Always water a few days after the substrate has dried out. In winter, limit watering. It can last quite a long time without watering.
It can tolerate -3.9 °C in the short term. However, the plant is not hardy.
Christ's crown of thorns was probably made from this succulent.
Euphorbia milii White is probably a variant of Euphorbia milii f. lutea. The epithet milii recalls Baron Milius, once Governor of Reunion (Bourbon), who is said to have taken this species to France in 1821. It is nicknamed Christ's or Crown of Thorns. It is probably the plant from which the crown of thorns was woven at the crucifixion of Christ. From a cultivation point of view, it is a yellow-flowered or white-flowered form of Euphorbia.
The ovate leaves are bright green, with a narrow tip at the base. They slowly fall off from the bottom. The plant grows numerous, densely spiny, stems that branch and gradually become woody. The succulent shrub can reportedly grow up to 1,8 m tall.
The tiny flowers are white to greenish-yellow in colour. Except for a short pause during the winter, this plant blooms virtually all year round.
If we have the opportunity, the plant can be fertilised. It can react to overwatering by dropping its leaves, but these grow back quite quickly after watering. It produces a mildly toxic sap, so I recommend growing it out of reach of children and pets. In case of contact, skin and eye irritation may occur, so the affected area should be washed with water as soon as possible. This succulent is interesting for its probable historical context. Besides, it blooms beautifully almost all year round and its spiky stem catches the eye from a distance.