Pedilanthus macrocarpus Benth.
Pedilanthus macrocarpus is a very interesting member of the Euphorbiaceae from Sonora and Baja California, Mexico. We have grown this plant for many years first in a pot, 10.5 inches diameter (25cm) being the largest we could afford it until it was planted out in free root run. It is not difficult to cultivate, in a pot it produced many of the unusual flowers depicted in the photograph (2cm long) and also quite a lot of seed (being wasp pollinated in the our collection) although we have never managed to germinate any. In free root run it has hardly flowered at all but has grown so fast into a large bush, some stems reaching over 6 feet (2m) before falling over. We have frequently had to prune it heavily. Under these conditions it has also produced many cristate or fasciated growths which is not unusual for this species in habitat.
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