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Euphorbia leucocephala

Common Names:   Pascuita, Snows of Kilimanjaro,

White Laced Euphorbia, Snow Flake, Little Christmas Flower/Tree

Euphorbia leucocephala is native to Central America, but it is popular in so many countries that you can hardly keep up with all of the common names that have been given to it. In Southern Florida it is known as "Little Christmas Flower", or "Little Christmas Tree". The reason being that it is a very dependable bloomer over the entire Christmas season, from Thanksgiving through New Years, and beyond. Sometimes it will treat you with a second bloom in mid spring.

In general, Euphorbia leucocephala likes to grow as a slender upright shrub to 10 Feet. With a little work at pruning lower branches, it can easily be trained in to a single trunk, small tree. It is not too partial about the type of soil it has, and can adapt to almost anything. It does like it hot, sunny and dry. Of course, being tropical, it cannot tolerate a frost, and must be brought inside if you live in a colder climate.

The flowers are actually very tiny; you have to get very close to see them. What makes the bloom so spectacular are the colored, leaf like bracts that surround the flower. The buds appear at the end of the branches, with multiple flowers in a group. This gives it a very dense blooming, covering the entire plant in white. The goal is to get the most flowers possible, which is accomplished by increasing the number of branches. To do that you should trim back the plant after the blooming period. Each branch that you trim will create 3 or more new branches. The plant will soon have a very dense crown and a fantastic bloom.

There are 2 common varieties of Euphorbia leucocephala: Variety "Snow Flake" has bracts that are snow white, and glisten brightly in the sun. This is probably the most popular variety. The other variety is called "Pink Finale". Its bracts start out white, but quickly turn a pink color. As the bloom period advances, there is a combination of the younger white bracts, with the older pink bracts which give it an interesting contrast. Like the common names, there are many variations on the variety names. Be sure you are getting the variety that you want.

One quirk of all Euphorbias is that they are phototropic, which means they are sensitive to light. In this case, they require a long period of darkness to initiate a bloom. You must be careful to plant them in an area that does not receive an external light source at night such as a porch light, onfy or a street light. If it detects a light source at night it will just continue its normal growth pattern, and will never set a bloom.

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