Euphorbia graminea - Grassleaf Spurge / Ponta-de-Flecha (JACQ.)

Magnoliopsida: Malpighiales: Euphorbiaceae: Euphorbioideae: Euphorbieae: Euphorbiinae

Date: 10th of October, 2017
Location: Brazil, Santa Catarina, Benedito Novo (Lat: -26.769178133766825, Long: -49.36294118666308, Accuracy in meters: 2)

Euphorbia graminea is a plant in the class Magnoliopsida, order Malpighiales, family Euphorbiaceae, subfamily Euphorbioideae, tribe Euphorbieae and subtribe Euphorbiinae.

The plant is erect, ascendant and branches in various directions. Mature plants can reach a height of 10-50cm and, perhaps, even 1 meter. The leaves are green and elongated. The fruit is trilobated and capsule-like, measuring 1,5-2mm in length. The stem is thin and fragile but, actually, this might be an evolutive strategy to break off easily and spread. This is because the plant can be grown from stakes. Once planted, broken branches can develop roots. They are incredibly resistant to weather conditions. Unbelieavably beautiful plants, the Adenopetalum gramineum, Eumecanthus gramineus and Agaloma graminea are synonyms of Euphorbia graminea and develop delicate, beautiful white "flowers" called ciatio, special structures that look like flowers; these attract many pollinators. They are a hotspot for Tetragonista angustula stingless bees, Gasteruption sp. wasps, Allograpta sp. hoverflies, and many more. The pedicels are around 0,2-1,5cm long. They grow and spread with ease, with the option of cutting off overgrowths to spread the plant; the cut branches can be planted elsewhere instead of being thrown away. The flowers are small, measuring around 1-1,5cm in length. They are native to tropical America, but are distributed from Mexico to South America and the Islets.

They are easily mistaken with Euphorbia hypericifolia, a visually, nearly identical toxic plant that contains phorbol (I left sources about this relative below). E. graminea also contains phorbol.

Chemically, phorbol is an organic component of vegetable origin. It's incredible soluble in water. Biologically important properties, they can act by promoting the growth of tumors through the activation of protein kinase C. The protein possesses two hydroxyl groups that have reacted with fatty acids to form esters, the most common being the Phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate. (PMA), which is used as a tool to study oncogenesis. Ionomycin, along with TPA, can be used to stimulate the activation of T-cells, proliferation and production of cytokins, and for protocols of intracellular coloration of those cytokins. This allows for study on the plants for anticrotalic properties. Ingestion of the plants without the manipulation of the properties by an expert and medical prescription may induce poisoning. The milky sap they produce irritates the skin and the eyes.

Two variations of E. graminea exist:

Euphorbia graminea var. graminea

Euphorbia graminea var. novogaliciana (McVaugh (1993)).

MAIN SOURCES & WORKS:

SANTANA, K. C. B., AMORIM, L. L. B., PANDOLFI, V., BERLAMINO, L. C., GAZANNEO, L.R., KIDO, E. A.,
CROVELLA, S., GALDINO, S.L., BENKO-ISEPPON, A. M. Caracterização Defensina Putativa e Isolamento de
seu Gene Codificante em Euphorbia hyssopifolia L.: Novas Perspectivas Terapêuticas In: 2º Encontro Brasileiro para Inovação Terapêutica, 2011, Recife

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20060105994A1/en

http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S0001-37652016000100017&script=sci_abstract&tlng=pt

http://www.sbpmed.org.br/download/rbpm-19-1.pdf

https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphorbia_graminea

http://eol.org/pages/1144788/overview

About E. hypericifolia, citing phorbol:

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamaesyce_hypericifolia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamaesyce

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Chamaesyce_hypericifolia

http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=264128&isprofile=0&

https://www.thespruce.com/euphorbia-hypericifolia-1402841

https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphorbia_hypericifolia