Euphorbia tuckeyana

Euphorbia tuckeyana
Euphorbia tuckeyana at Chã das Caldeiras
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Malpighiales
Family:	Euphorbiaceae
Genus:	Euphorbia
Species:	E. tuckeyana
Binomial name
Euphorbia tuckeyana Steud. ex. Webb, 1849

Euphorbia tuckeyana is a species of flowering plant that belongs to the family Euphorbiaceae. The species is endemic in Cape Verde. The species is named after James Hingston Tuckey.

Its local name is tortolho (tortoise flower). The plants are used for tanning hides.

Old plants higher than 0.5–1 m are extremely rare today. Large plants up to 2 m are only known from outer escarpments of the central caldeira on Fogo as scattered relicts of a scrub vegetation type.

Euphorbia tuckeyana are found in much of the Cape Verde islands with the exception of the eastern islands of Boa Vista and Maio. It is mainly occurring in the subhumid and humid zones, but it has also been reported from the arid zone on Santiago. The uppermost records are from the caldeira rim on Fogo up to 1800 m (leg. Killian & Leyens). The main altitudinal distribution is between 200 m and 1,600 m. The plants grow on rocky soil particularly on mountain slopes and less frequently in steep cliffs and they form a characteristic, but not dominating element of the indigenous montane scrub vegetation in the Cape Verde Islands.

Euphorbia tuckeyana was issued on a Cape Verdean stamp in 2002.

Euphorbia tuckeyana can be founded at Jardim Botânico Nacional Grandvaux Barbosa in São Jorge dos Órgãos in eastern Santiago Island.

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Wikipedia