Crown of thorns - Euphorbia Milii

Common Name :	Crown of thorns, Christ plant, Christ thorn.
Botanical Name :	Euphorbia milii
Family :	Euphorbiaceae
Bengali Name :	Kontok Mukut.
Photo Taken :	Bangladesh

Crown of thorns is an ornamental flowering plant that is native to Madagascar. But these days this is seen in many other countries. This belongs to the plant family Euphorbia and the botanical name of the plant is Euphorbia milii. This plant is also known as Christ plant, Christ thorn. There are several variations of this flower are available around the world. Some botanists use to consider those as a separate species, some use to consider just as a variety from same species.





Crown of thorns (Euphorbia Milii) is a succulent plant that can grow as a vine (up to 6 feet). Plant is densely thorny and having leathery leafs at the top. Flowers are actually the transformed bracts of the flower. It holds the very tiny small yellow flower inside the dissembled bracts. This bract color can be red, pink, yellow, etc.





People use to believe that Jesus Christ was wearing a crown during crucifixion that was made from the thorny stem of this plant. This is a fleshy plant and has hard thorns around the stems. The stems are pliable and you can easily make a circle by bending it. The milky sap from the plant can cause irritation to skin, and it's poisonous if ingested.

Edited photo.

A Crown of thorns (Euphorbia Milii) plant.

Photos of Crown of thorns (Euphorbia Milii) were taken from the following locations of Bangladesh. In Bangla this is probably known as Kontok mukut ful (কন্টক মুকুট).
1. April 2010: Comilla.
2. June 2013: Narayanganj.


This article has written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog http://icflora.blogspot.com/