DISTRIBUTION:
Usually to be found on dry, stony hills.
BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION:
General: A succulent shrub up to 1 m high with many round, smooth, green branches containing white milky latex. Older branches with scattered leaf scars.
Leaves: Leaves entire, up to 1,3 cm long. Only on young growing stems.
Flowers: Yellow flower heads in groups at the tips of the branches.
Fruit: A 3-chambered capsule with a seed in each chamber.
TOXIC PRINCIPLE:
An unknown neurotoxin.
Syndromes: Nervous excitement in stock
Systems affected: Central nervous system.
CLINICAL SIGNS:
Muscle trembling and stiffness, frothing at the mouth, drooling of saliva, ruminal stasis, bloat and diarrhoea.
NECROPSY:
Nothing specific.
