Candelabra Tree, Naboom (Euphorbia ingens)

Candelabra Tree, Naboom
Euphorbia ingens

sure looks like Euphorbia ingens... how do you tell them apart?

Bob, I think we had a conversation about this before.

E. abyssin(i)ca gets to about 20 feet. I don't recall ever seeing leaves on it.

E. ingens can get twice that large easily. Over time E. ingens can have segments that get so large that they bend and reach the ground. E. abyssinica never does this.

I have about a half-dozen or so E. abyssinica on the property and about the same number of E. ingens on the property. When you have them together, they look very different. Euphorbia Frank of www.euphorbia.de positively identified both my E. ingens and E. abyssinica. That's how I originally found out what my E. abyssinica was. I see all over the place where E. abyssinica is missidentified as E. ingens.

All of my E. ingens are only about 6-8 feet tall presently, but I will be posting pics of them in the near future. Often during the course of the year E. ingens will have little leaves on it. I never see this with my E. abyssinica.

-Ron-

when not in leaf, and not huge is there anything different about them?

Bob,

I went looking for the two best images of a mature E. ingens and a mature E. abyssinica that I could find. Ironically, it was under E. ingens that I found both posted by you.

Here is a mature E. ingens-- http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/23109/

Here is a mature E. abyssinica-- http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/37037/

Here is a closeup of one of my E. ingens-- http://members.cox.net/fouquieria/DSCF0657.JPG

Here is a closeup of one of my E. abyssinica-- http://members.cox.net/fouquieria/DSCF0658.JPG

Two things about the closeups--I have NEVER noticed leaves on my E. abyssinica. My E. ingens gets and loses leaves each year. The spines on the E. ingens are quite typical and noticeable. One can hardly see or feel the spines on the E. abyssinica.

Also, Euphorbia abyssinica is misspelled in the plants database. It is spelled abyssinica after the old country name for Ethiopia--Abyssinia.

I had the same problem trying to recognize which was which and I sent those two closeups to Euphorbia Frank and he ID'd them for me.

Hope this helps.

-Ron-

This message was edited Sep 9, 2005 1:14 AM

I am trying to identify a euphorbia I have seen being grown as a houseplant in a mildly sunny window. It is extremely fastigiate, is three sided, rather than four, has tiny thorns on the ridges, does not have much in the way of "blurps" along the stems (where it looks like the stem goes in and out), has tiny leaves at the tops of the stems when watered a lot, and has never been known to flower. It does not look like abyssinica, ingens or any of the others I have seen pix of, but is certainly similar. How do I distinguish it, other than the # of ridges? (Which seem like they can vary anyway.)

it will be very difficult without a photo .... but even with one, it may be very difficult, as there are hundreds of species of columnar Euphorbias, many which look a LOT alike.