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Euphorbia punicea; photograph Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SAFrank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Euphorbia punicea Sw.

Vegetable-leather; Jamaican poinsettia

Euphorbiaceae · Jamaica · listed by its genus as a cactus or succulent

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Euphorbia punicea, photograph (c) Alison Copeland, some rights reserved (CC BY)Euphorbia punicea, photograph (c) Alison Copeland, some rights reserved (CC BY)Euphorbia punicea, photograph Christian Hummert (Ixitixel), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsEuphorbia punicea, photograph Drew Avery, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsEuphorbia punicea, photograph Drew Avery, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsEuphorbia punicea, photograph S. Rae from Scotland, UK, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons 14 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
19.5°C
Record low 16.0 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
30°C
Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,530mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
28–43DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
A sharp rainy season, April to June and August to November (the habitat's months, not shifted), in a year of even temperature. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Euphorbia punicea is a species of euphorb commonly known as Jamaican poinsettia. It was first described by Olof Peter Swartz in his Nova genera et species plantarum seu prodromus. It grows as a bush or tree three to five meters (10–16 ft) tall, and sometimes much taller. The false flower is in fact a cyathium surrounded by large, colorful bracts.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Euphorbia punicea", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Euphorbia

Euphorbia is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants, commonly called spurge, in the family Euphorbiaceae.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Euphorbia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent, listed under the genus Euphorbia in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “semisucculent shrub”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,187 mm of 1,557 mm) falls in April to June and August to November. The temperature curve is flat, 3.4 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere. The temperature curve moves under 4 °C between the warmest and coldest month, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

1,557 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,187 mm of it April to June and August to November. Wettest month October at 243 mm, driest month February at 51 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,169 mm to 1,859 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,530 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,557 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 43 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 27, the highest 90th-percentile month 44).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 19.5 °C, the absolute minimum 16.0 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 31.4 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 19.1 °C in February (across the grid cells of the range 17.5 °C to 22.6 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 29.6 °C in July and August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 19.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 63 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +216 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the genus Euphorbia in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “semisucculent shrub”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Euphorbia punicea through the yearWarmest months July and August, mean daily high 30 °C; coldest month February, mean nightly low 19.1 °C; 1,557 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.15°20°25°30°35°31.4° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER16.0° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 28–43RH 63–68%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 12 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C26 / 25–2727 / 26–2827 / 26–2828 / 27–2928 / 27–2929 / 28–3030 / 29–3130 / 29–3129 / 28–3028 / 27–2927 / 26–2827 / 25–27
Night °C19 / 18–2319 / 18–2319 / 18–2320 / 19–2321 / 20–2422 / 21–2522 / 21–2622 / 21–2622 / 21–2522 / 20–2521 / 20–2420 / 18–23
Rain mm62 / 34–8351 / 29–7179 / 62–99112 / 85–147220 / 164–265128 / 89–146104 / 75–129142 / 102–166203 / 147–239243 / 192–302139 / 98–17074 / 47–128
DLI30 / 29–3134 / 33–3639 / 38–4042 / 42–4441 / 40–4242 / 41–4343 / 42–4341 / 40–4237 / 36–3933 / 32–3429 / 28–3128 / 27–30
RH %64 / 61–6663 / 60–6463 / 60–6463 / 61–6465 / 63–6764 / 62–6663 / 61–6464 / 62–6666 / 64–6868 / 65–7067 / 64–6965 / 62–67
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 12 grid cells holding the 14 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1435:2047 (18.225, -77.625). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 16.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 19.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 31.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 12 distinct grid cells holding 14 of the 14 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1435:2047 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 18.00_-77.500, lapse-corrected +216 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 419 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeJamaica · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker18.248, -77.614 · in the densest population, 23 records (100% of those in range)
Kew's description“semisucculent shrub” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 23 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 14 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 16 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 8 km away. 7 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 9 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 23 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Euphorbia punicea, photograph 1did not loadEuphorbia punicea, photograph 2did not loadEuphorbia punicea, photograph 3did not loadEuphorbia punicea, photograph 4did not loadEuphorbia punicea, photograph 5did not loadEuphorbia punicea, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Alison Copeland, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); Christian Hummert (Ixitixel), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Drew Avery, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (2); S. Rae from Scotland, UK, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Peperomia clusiifolia Peperomia clusiifolia Piperaceae Photo: Public domain, Murderbike Agave harrisii Asparagaceae Phyllanthus arbuscula Phyllanthus arbuscula Phyllanthaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, User:BotBlnRoystonea altissima Roystonea altissima Jamaican Royal Palm Photo: CC BY, Marilyne Busque-Dubois Dorstenia fawcettii Moraceae Pilea crassifolia Pilea crassifolia Urticaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Michael Wolf (Webseite)

Other Euphorbia 400 in the reference

Euphorbia abdelkuri Euphorbia abdelkuri Abd al Kuri euphorbia Photo: CC BY-SA, Stan ShebsEuphorbia abyssinica Euphorbia abyssinica Abyssinian spurge Photo: CC BY-SA, Frank VincentzEuphorbia acanthothamnos Euphorbia acanthothamnos Greek spiny spurge Photo: CC BY, Eleftherios KatsillisEuphorbia adenensis Euphorbia adenensis Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY, Joey BomEuphorbia aeruginosa Euphorbia aeruginosa Miniature Saguaro Photo: CC0, author not statedEuphorbia aggregata Euphorbia aggregata Pincushion euphorbia Photo: CC BY-SA, Frank VincentzEuphorbia albipollinifera Euphorbia albipollinifera Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Frank VincentzEuphorbia alfredii Euphorbia alfredii Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Frank VincentzEuphorbia alluaudii Euphorbia alluaudii Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY, amantedarmaninEuphorbia ambovombensis Euphorbia ambovombensis Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Frank VincentzEuphorbia ammak Euphorbia ammak Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Frank VincentzEuphorbia ampliphylla Euphorbia ampliphylla Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Medium69 (William Crochot) all 401 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Adenorima punicea; Euphorbia troyana; Euphorbiodendron puniceum; Euphorbiodendron troyanum; Poinsettia punicea and 1 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Euphorbiaceae
Described by
Sw.
Native to
Jamaica
Wild records
23 in range · 16 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 6 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (6 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 18.00_-77.500, lapse-corrected +216 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 12 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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