Euphorbia milii var. splendens

Euphorbia milii var. splendens is a variety of the species Euphorbia milii. Like the other varieties of E. milii (and other plants in the spurge family Euphorbiaceae) E. m. var. splendens produces a milky latex that is an irritant poison. Under the name sijou (alternative spelling sijwu) the plant, known formerly as Euphorbia splendens, is considered to be sacred in the Bathouist religion of the Bodo people of Assam, West Bengal, Nagaland and Nepal, in which it symbolizes the supreme deity, Bathoubwrai (Master of the Five Elements). This cultivation of the sijou tree for ritual purposes was particularly strong among the Bodo people (known also as Mech) of the Goalpara region. The plant does not often set seed, but is easy to propagate vegetatively; branches broken from an established plant root readily as cuttings. Families that follow Bathouism plant a sijou shrub at the northeast corner of their courtyard in an altar referred to as the sijousali. Bodo communities that follow Bathouis......read more on Wikipedia.