Euphorbiales

Placement

Kingdom Plantae

Subkingdom Tracheobionta

Division Magnoliophyta -- angiosperms, flowering plants

Class Magnoliopsida -- dicotyledons

Subclass Rosidae

Order Euphorbiales

Synonyms and common names none noted

Reference http://www.itis.usda.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=28020 as of 2002-05-30

Text Some of these species are highly toxic.

In the Mediterranean area, some use euphorbia's leaves for fishing in rivers: leaves release their toxic substance, that goes immediately in solution with water, and when the fish is reached by it its swim-bladder swells until it explodes, killing the fish. The dead fish comes then to the surface and is easily collectible. This practice is however extremely unsafe, given that the toxic element remains in the tissues of the fish, so it would be dangerous to eat it.

Children

Families

• Aextoxicaceae[?] Aextoxicon punctatum, the Aceitunillo tree from Chile, is the only species in this family. The family is empty in ITIS. Delta http://biodiversity.uno.edu/delta/angio/www/aextoxic.htm shows this as unassigned at the ordinal level.
• Buxaceae[?] (boxwood) - 2 genera
• Daphniphyllaceae[?] - 1 genus, Daphniphyllum, 35 species. The family is empty in ITIS. Delta http://biodiversity.uno.edu/delta/angio/www/daphniph.htm places it in Saxifragales
• Euphorbiaceae (spurge) - 71 genera, including cassava and the castor bean
• Pandaceae[?] - 4 genera, 28 species. This family is empty in ITIS. See Delta http://biodiversity.uno.edu/delta/angio/www/pandacea.htm for more information.
• Simmondsiaceae (goatnut, jojoba) - 1 genus