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Euphorbiaceae, spurge family of flowering plants (order Malpighiales), containing some 6,880 species in 223 genera. Many members are important food sources. Others are useful for their waxes and oils and as a source of medicinal drugs; dangerous for their poisonous fruits, leaves, or sap; or attractive for their colorful bracts (leaflike structures located just below flower clusters) or unusual forms. Although species of the family grow throughout the world, except in cold alpine or arctic...