Euphorbia milii

crown of thorns

The plant’s common name “crown of thorns” is derived from the legend that it was the thorny plant used to make the crown Christ wore during His crucifixion. This seems less than likely since the plant is native to Madagascar, although some do think an ancient introduction of the plant to areas in the Middle East by Arab traders could have been possible.

The species name milii refers to Baron Milius, governor of Réunion (island east of Madagascar), who introduced this plant to France in 1821.

Be sure you’re wearing gloves when handling this plant, as it is spiny and also has irritant sap inside the stems. To make up for these less-than-attractive aspects, the plant is in bloom almost year-round and requires little care. It is also quite at home in the Florida Keys sunshine and heat, and is capable of growing all the way to Zone 8 regions.

Botanists just love terminology; I have a 200-page book devoted solely to botanical terms in English and what they refer to as well as an equally sizable dictionary of Latin terminology and English equivalents. The colorful “flowers” of the crown of thorns are actually special types of inflorescences known as cyathia, which contain several male flowers and one female flower in the center. The brightly colored “petals” are actually bracts known as cyathophylls. So if you’re feeling like being a brat to someone bragging about the “flowers” on their crown-of-thorns plant, you could pipe up with a well-informed “ACTUALLY...”