Entry From
Flora of Tropical Africa, Vol 6, Part 1, page 441, (1913) Author: (By J. G. Baker, with additions by C. H. Wright.)
Names
EUPHORBIA abyssinica Gmelin [family EUPHORBIACEAE], 167.,, Syst. Nat. ed. 13, ii. (vii.) 759. —Raeuschel, Nomencl. Bot. ed. 1797, 139.
Kolquall Bruce [family ], Travels, v. 41, with 2 plates.
EUPHORBIA officinarum Willd. var. Kolquall [family EUPHORBIACEAE], Sp. Pl. ii. 884.
Notes
In books and gardens several species have been mistaken for E. abyssinica, Gmel., but none of them agree with Bruce's description of the plant from Taranta Mountain, upon which the species was founded. Unfortunately Bruce's description does not accord (as to the spines) with his figures, but it is quite possible, that the latter was not made from the Taranta plant, since it is very evident that he confused other species with it, as may be seen from his remark: “As we went west, the tree turned poor, the branches were few, seldom above 2 or 3 ribs or divisions, and these not deeply indented, whereas those of Taranta had frequently eight.” So that until good specimens of the plant are obtained from Taranta Mountain, which no subsequent collector seems to have visited, no accurate description of the plant can be given. Bruce states that “the only use the Abyssinians make of this is for tanning hides, at least for taking off the first hair.”