[3] It is native to northern Nigeria, where local farmers extract its latex for use as a pesticide.

Its powerfully irritant and pain-producing nature mandates use as a fencing plant.

It is known to the Berom people of the Jos area as pyùlúp who transplant it to their compounds where it is regarded as protection against witchcraft.

It is named for French botanist Henri Louis Poisson, who formally described other Euphorbia species.

[3] The most active toxin, resiniferatoxin, binds to pain receptors in the same way as capsaicin but much more powerfully.