Firesticks, or "Pencil Cactus", Has it's Uses
Euphorbia tirucalli, like all plants in the Euphorbiaceacea (check spelling…) family, has a caustic or poisonous sap, a milky white latex excretion. And yet it appears to be a valuable plant for it’s many properties.
Many pharmacological activities of Euphorbia tirucalli has been documented…
molluscicidal…
antibacterial…
antiherpetic…
anti-mutagenic….
co-carcinogenic…
anticarcinogenic…
inhibition of the ascitic tumor in mice…
antimicrobial…
laxative…
control intestinal parasites…
treat asthma, cough, earache, rheumatism, verrucae, cancer, chancre, epithelioma, sarcoma, skin tumors and as a folk remedy against syphilis.
I didn’t know that (not that I needed to know that last one either).
Saturday Science!
