Miller Daniel A39678296 Plant Biology Crown-of-Thorns The plant that I chose to research is called the Crown-of-Thorns, or more formally known as Euphorbia milli. The Crown-of-Thorns comes from the very large Euphorbiaceae family of plants. The Euphorbiaceae family also contains the Poinsettia which many people know as a common holiday plant and often keep in their houses. It is native to Madagascar and prefers climates that are very hot and dry with a lot of open space. The plant, which was located in the Beal Gardens contained red flowers, but it can also blossom in pink, salmon, or white depending on the particular plant. It is said to blossom year round; however, the plant should be kept above 60*, I am interested to see how the plant will be doing in January. At first I was attracted to the Crown-of-Thorns from a distance because of its appearance. From afar it appeared to have gray branches with lots of little. Atop of these unique looking branches there were either two or four small red flowers that could have been mistaken for berries. When I got closer to the plant, I noticed that it did not in fact have gray branches, but instead hundreds of tiny inch long thorns the covering branches that were darker in color. I also saw that the flowers sprouted out at two per stem. Most of the branches just had one stem, but a few of the thicker branches contained two stems with four flowers total. There was not a lone flower to be found on the plant, they sprouted in couples, at most an inch apart from each other. I have always been drawn to plants that contain sharp thorns as I consider it to be a very unique trait for something that isn't mobile to be able to defend itself from predators. And this plant was quite capable of that, the thorns were located everywhere and were so sharp and rigid that I pricked myself just feeling one. The plant protects itself so well, that it is even used as a deterrent against intruders
by planting several next to each other to form a wall. All in all I found the plant to be very unique in this world of brown branches and green leaves, and am looking forward to see how the plant does once temperatures go below freezing.
Sources Cited http://plantoasis.com/plants/1021_1040/1031_crown_of_thorns.htm http://www.greenpatio.com/plantdatabase/euphorbiamilli.shtml http://www.wanapluk.com/crown-of-thorns-plant/