Euphorbia canariensis, commonly known as the Canary Island Spurge or as Hercules Club to horticulturalists
is a succulent member of the family Euphorbiaceae

Euphorbiaceae

Euphorbiaceae, the Spurge family are a large family of flowering plants with 300 genera and around 7,500 species. Most are herbs, but some, especially in the tropics, are also shrubs or trees. Some are succulent and resemble cacti....

 and genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Euphorbia that grows natively in the arid

Arid

A region is said to be arid when it is characterized by a severe lack of available water, to the extent of hindering or even preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life...

 and humid environment of the lowest areas in the Canary Islands

Canary Islands

The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...

 where it is also endemic to.

Description

Canary Island Spurge is a small tree, growing to 3 metres (9.8 ft) to 4 metres (13.1 ft) high. Fleshy quadrangular or pentagonal trunks that are like a cactus. The leaves grow in clusters of three or four and have 'turned into spines' 5 millimetre (0.196850393700787 in) to 14 millimetre (0.551181102362205 in) long. Reddish-green flowers. Hardy to -2 °C.

The latex which contains diterpenes
is considered highly toxic.

Distribution

Found on the narrow coastal belt, from sea level to 0 metre (0 ft) to 1100 metres (3,608.9 ft) in the Canary Islands.