Euphorbia

The phenological study provides a detailed comparison of life cycles of six species of Euphorbia with a view to enhancing the knowledge of the taxonomic status of the genus. Growth and developmental stages were investigated using pot experiments. Description of six principal growth stages was done and these include leaf development, shoot development, flowering emergence, fruit development, seed ripening and seed dispersal. All the investigations were carried out for 77 days under the same experimental conditions.

Foliar epidermis of six species of Euphorbia Linn. in Nigeria was studied with the aim of ascertaining reliable characters for easy identification, delimitation and indicating relationships among species. Light microscopy was employed to evaluate leaf surface features such as shape of epidermal cell, stomata and trichome and their distribution frequency. Epidermal shapes are variable i.e. polygonal, irregular and undulate. Stomatal complex types include anomocytic, anisocytic, paracytic, diacytic were encountered. Diacytic stomatal complex was observed only in E. heterophylla and E.