Pedilanthus
(from pedilon, a shoe, and anthos, a flower; alluding to the shape of the blossoms). Slipper Spurs. SYN. Crepidaria. ORD. Euphorbiaceae. A genus comprising about fifteen species of stove shrubs, often with fleshy branches, natives of tropical America, from Brazil to Mexico and the West Indies. Involucres green or coloured, irregular, oblique, disposed in terminal or axillary, dichotomous cymes; male flowers several, females one, to an involucre. Cauline leaves alternate, entire; floral ones frequently opposite. P. tithymaloides, which is probably the only species introduced, is a shrub of a succulent nature. It thrives in a thoroughly well-drained, sandy loam, with the addition of a little well-rotted cow-dung. Propagation may be effected by cuttings, thoroughly dried at the base, inserted in sand, and occasionally very slightly moistened.
P. tithymaloides (Tithymalus-like). Jew-bush. fl. disposed in rather dense, terminal cymes; involucre purple, nearly 1/2in. long. Summer. l. 1in. to 3in. long, sub-sessile, cuneate at base, ovate or oblong, acute, often recurved at apex, the margins slightly undulated; cauline ones ovate, long-acuminate. h. 4ft. to 6ft. West Indies, 1874. (B. R. 837; B. M. 2514, under name of Euphorbia carinata; L. B. C. 727, under name of E. canaliculata.)