Euphorbiales

Malpighiales
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Malpighiales
Families
See text.

Euphorbiales was the former name of an order of flowering plants.

Newer classification systems, including the APG II system, merge order Euphorbiales into order Malpighiales.

Families, formerly comprised in Euphorbiales

• Buxaceae (boxwood) - 2 genera
• Daphniphyllaceae - 1 genus, Daphniphyllum, 35 species. The family is empty in ITIS. Watson and Dallwitz place it in Saxifragales
• Euphorbiaceae (spurge) - 71 genera, including cassava, castor bean and Poinsettia
• Pandaceae - 4 genera, 28 species. This family is empty in ITIS. See Watson and Dallwitz for more information.
• Simmondsiaceae (goatnut, jojoba) - 1 genus

Family Aextoxicaceae, which is assigned to order Euphorbiales in some older systems, is assigned to order Berberidopsidales in newer systems, including that of the APG.

Ethnobotany

Some of these species are highly toxic.

In the Mediterranean area, some use euphorbia's leaves for fishing in rivers: leaves release their toxic substance, that goes immediately in solution with water, and when the fish is reached by it its swim-bladder swells until it explodes, killing the fish. The dead fish comes then to the surface and is easily collectible. This practice is however extremely unsafe, given that the toxic element remains in the tissues of the fish, so it would be dangerous to eat it.

References

• http://www.itis.usda.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=28020

as of 2002-05-30

• L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The Families of Flowering Plants: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, Information Retrieval.