Succulents are architectural and clean-textured garden accents, adding modern funk and humor to a planting palette. Milkbush (Euphorbia tirucalli), also known as pen tree, takes that description to the extreme. Using its spacious structure and rubbery, cartoon-like branches, it is eye-catching and exotic — in the domain of succulents.

Caution: make certain to avoid direct skin contact, as this plant’s milky sap is toxic.

Tracy27

Botanical name: Euphorbia tirucalli

Common names: Milkbush, pencilbush, pen tree, Indian tree spurge

USDA zones: 10 to 11 (find your zone)

Water requirement: Minimal; drought tolerant

Sun requirement: Complete sun

Mature size: Can reach up to 30 feet tall (much more likely to be kept little)

Benefits and tolerances: Drought and coastal Limits; flowers attract bees and birds; used by birds for nesting

Seasonal attention: Evergreen; flowers are insignificant

When to plant: Propagate by cuttings. Caution: When trimming, planting or hauling milkbush, wear gloves and long sleeves, and also consider goggles to avoid direct contact with the toxic white sap. After pruning the plant or trimming cuttings, let the stems to dry out or seal them to include the sap.

Distinguishing traits. The most apparent and obvious characteristics of this succulent tree are its own habit and colour. Whereas other succulents form tighter rosettes, milkbush branches and spreads. Imagine the shadow it casts.

Milkbush is a freely branching, upright shrub or tree. While in its native African setting it reaches sizes of up to 30 feet tall, it tends to be much smaller in domestic cultivation.

Sticks on Fire, revealed here, is a popular milkbush cultivar. Colorful foliage turns bright yellow in summer and contributes to a vibrant reddish. Because these cultivars lack the amount of chlorophyll of the straight species, they’re also slower growing.

Photo by Wikimedia Commons consumer Derek Ramsey

Flea Market Sunday

The best way to use it. Treat milkbush as an architectural accent in the backyard — the form contrasts other rosette-shape succulents along with the rubbery texture adds foliage structure. Milkbush adds visual diversity in an all-succulent backyard and textural and structural shape to mixed foliage beds.

See more of this exotic garden and home

Glenna Partridge Garden Design

Planting notes. Plant it directly in the floor, in containers or even inside, if conditions are dry and warm.

Far Out Flora

Plant it in well-drained soil which will stay mostly dry. It is very tolerant of wind and salt and will develop right along the shore. It is not very hardy — just to about 30 degrees Fahrenheit — but you could always bring it inside if your winters are cold.

See related