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African Milk Barrel

Euphorbia polygona, Euphorbiaceae

Sources last read 14 September 2026.

Not yet rated How forgiving it is has not been judged here yet.

African Milk Barrel (Euphorbia polygona), the whole plant.
SAplants, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

African Milk Barrel is toxic

  • Not assessed for cats. This plant is not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety: none of the sources read for this site gives an answer either way. Treat it as unknown.
  • Not assessed for dogs. This plant is not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety: none of the sources read for this site gives an answer either way. Treat it as unknown.
  • Toxic to people. Toxic to people (low severity). NC State Extension

What the sources say about its care

Sources file this plant under other names: Euphorbia polygona 'Nova'. Citations below point at the name its source uses.

Light
Full sun, Partial Shade
NC State Extension, filed as Euphorbia polygona 'Nova' · read 13 September 2026
Water
Good Drainage, Occasionally Dry
NC State Extension, filed as Euphorbia polygona 'Nova' · read 13 September 2026
Humidity

No source read publishes a humidity figure for any plant on this site. What follows is general guidance for foliage plants.

Most foliage plants prefer more humidity than a heated room gives; succulents are named as an exception
Penn State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Soil
Loam (Silt), Sand
NC State Extension, filed as Euphorbia polygona 'Nova' · read 13 September 2026
Toxic to cats
Not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety.
ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
Toxic to dogs
Not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety.
ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
Harmful to people
Toxic to people (low severity)
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026

Routine care

Watering
They need bright sun, very good drainage and infrequent watering to avoid rot. Use containers with plenty of drainage holes and a cactus and succulent soil, watering deeply and letting it dry out in between.
NC State Extension, filed as Euphorbia polygona 'Nova' · read 13 September 2026

Move something and watch

Loading the simulator. It needs JavaScript; the care table above does not.

African Milk Barrel (Euphorbia polygona) growing wild.
In the wildJustin Ponder, CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

About the plant

Euphorbia polygona, the many-angled cactus euphorbia, is a plant in the spurge family native to dry areas of South Africa.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · read 13 September 2026

Native range
SC. & S. Cape Prov.
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Southern Africa
NC State Extension, filed as Euphorbia polygona 'Nova' · read 13 September 2026
Climate
desert or dry shrubland
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Growth form
succulent subshrub or shrub
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Herbaceous Perennial, Succulent; habit erect, mounding
NC State Extension, filed as Euphorbia polygona 'Nova' · read 13 September 2026
Size
Height 30–40 in
NC State Extension, filed as Euphorbia polygona 'Nova' · read 13 September 2026
Flowering
Flowers gold/yellow, green; blooms in summer
NC State Extension, filed as Euphorbia polygona 'Nova' · read 13 September 2026

Other Euphorbia

More of the Euphorbiaceae family

Plants with similar care

Sources

What this does not cover

The figures above are what published sources say, not measurements of the plant in your room. They say nothing about your pot size, your water, the season, or how far from the glass the plant stands, and those decide more than any figure here does.

Humidity has no species figure because no source read for this site publishes one, and the only temperature published for this plant is a cold floor. The simulator fills those gaps with general figures for its kind of plant, marked as general and listed on how we read sources. Where a toxicity row says the plant was not assessed, that is the absence of a finding and not a finding of safety.

If something is already wrong, the diagnosis tool asks about the soil, the window and the watering, which is where the answer usually is.