Pedilanthus

The particular name of this genus comes from the Greek and literally means "shoe-shaped flower", in relation to the shape of the wonderful and showy scarlet inflorescences that produces and that make it famous especially among the flower growers. Depending on the species, Pedilanthus takes on a very varied appearance: it can develop like a compact shrub with innumerable leaves, but also like a succulent without foliage depending on the environmental adaptation necessary for their different place of origin! By some scholars labelled as synonymous with the genus Euphorbia, it is however more often considered as a genus in its own right due to the flowers extremely different from the other Euphorbiaceae, usually red, rather big and with a pointed shape. With the Euphorbia, however, it shares the presence of irritating milky sap inside its stems, to which attention must be paid but that often, for some species, is the raw material to give life to curative dermatological ointments.