Euphorbus (physician)

Euphorbus (Ancient Greek: Εὔφορβος Euphorbos) was the Greek physician of Juba II (r. 30 BC – 25 BC). He wrote that a succulent plant, similar to the Euphorbia, was a powerful laxative.^[1] In 12 BC, Juba named this plant after his physician Euphorbus in response to Augustus dedicating a statue to Antonius Musa, Augustus's own personal physician and Euphorbus' brother.^[1]

Botanist and taxonomist Carl Linnaeus assigned the name Euphorbia to the entire genus in the physician's honor.^[2]

References

1. Flowering Plants of the Santa Monica Mountains, p. 107, 1985, CNPS
2. Carl Linnaeus, Species Plantarum (1753): p. 450