author(s) : Mostafa M. El-Missiry, Mona M. Abdel-Mohsen, Ahmed H. El-Desoky and Abdel-Fattah M. Rizk

Euphorbiaceae is among the largest flowering plant families consisting of a wide variety of vegetative forms, some of which are plants of great importance. The family is very diverse in range, comprises of all sorts of plants ranging from large woody trees through climbing habit to simple weed that grows prostrate to the ground.
Euphorbiaceae is comprised of five subfamilies, 49 tribes, 317 genera and about 8000 species (Abdul Aziz and Ahmat, 2016).
Most spurges (Euphorbiaceae) are herbs, but some, especially in the tropics, are shrubs or trees.
This family occurs mainly in the tropics, with the majority of the species in the Indo-Malayan region and tropical America.
A large variety occurs in tropical Africa, but they are not as abundant or varied as in these two other tropical regions.
However, Euphorbia also has many species in non-tropical areas such as the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East, South Africa, and Southern USA (Ahmed et al., 2014a).
Plants of this family have acrid, milky or colourless juice. They are of considerable economic importance, and products obtained from this family include castor oil (Ricinus), tung oil (Aleurites), cassava and tapioca (Manihot) and rubber (Hevea). By no means, have all of these been shown to contain irritant cocarcinogens (Rizk, 1986).
Because of the presence of unusual secondary metabolites, many species of Euphorbiceae are poisonous and have been involved in human and livestock poisoning.
Plants of this family, especially those of the genus Euphorbia, are known for their ability to induce dermatitis (Evans and Schmidt, 1980). Others have been used in folk medicine, as pesticides, or as arrow poisons.
Several euphorbs are important food plants, and a number is important economically as ornamental plants and as sources of rubber, chemical precursors, lubricants, and medicinal compounds (Radcliffe-Smith, 1986; Rizk, 1987; Seigler, 1994).