Occurrence (Special Areas) :
Indroda Park, Ayurvedic Udyan, Van Chetana Kendra
About Euphorbia pulcherrima Plant :
Habit : A small, much-branched shrub with milky latex.
Leaves :
Alternate, ovate-lanceolate, entire or lobed with 1-2 blunt teeth on either side, acuminate, smooth, midrib and petiole reddish-brown.
The uppermost floral leaves (bracts) are opposite, usually red or pink, serving as petaloid bracts for attraction.
Flowers :
Flowers in terminal groups of cyathia on stout peduncles.
Involucre green with red fringed top, cup-like, 5-ribbed, glands compressed, large yellow-orange.
Inside the cyathium there are many male flowers; some male sterile flowersand one stalked female flower.
The male flower consists of a single stamen, filament jointed to the pedicle, there are no perianth leaves.
The sterile male flowers consist of hairy filaments with red tips.
The female flower is on a long stalk (gynophore) with trilocular ovary, styles 3 which are red and jointed and then each divide into 2 stigmatic lobes.
The female flower develops after sometime.
Flowering and Fruiting Time : December - February
Significance : Cultivated in the gardens everywhere.
