Plant in full sun to light shade. Give occasional water to little irrigation. It is frost tender, but leaves re-emerge without stem damage after mild frosts and the plant can resprout from base if top is frozen at short duration temperatures much below 25 F. As with most plants in the Euphorbia family the sap is toxic and this plant produces a copious amount of sap or "milk" and care needs to be taken when cutting or working with the plant so that it not be allowed to get in the eyes. The latex is known to be oil soluble so if it gets on your skin, it can be removed with any cooking oil, much as it done with beach tar.

African Milk Bush is native to rocky slopes in open bushland in the Kaivasha District in Kenya. It is also known as the "Purple Leaf Brown Jug Plant" or "Red Milk Bush" and is often confused in horticulture with the larger and greener Synadenium grantii that also grows in Kenya but also in Uganda and further south. In the most recent taxonomic treatment Synadenium compactum var. rubrum has be renamed Euphorbia bicompacta var. rubra (S.Carter) Bruyns and Synadenium grantii, which is a name that this plant is often referred to, was renamed Euphorbia umbellata (Pax) Bruyns), but we continue to list it under its older name until such time as this name gets better recognized. 

This information about Synadenium compactum var. rubrum displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.