Genus: Breynia
Common Name: Snow bush
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Appearance: Semi-weeping bushy medium shrub with coloured foliage.
Flowers: Small insignificant flowers.
Features: Highly decorative plant in landscapes, berries attract birds.
Requirements: Well drained moist soils required. Mostly tropical and subtropical plants adaptable to various sites except strong sea breezes.
Culture: Dappled sun or part shade, responds to mulch providing moist cool soil, can be transplanted. Pruning used to control plant height. Propagate by seed or stem and root cuttings.
Pest & Disease: Beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars - use Carbaryl. Scale -use malathion or white oil.
Species & Varieties:
B. cernua -Up to 4m tall, bluish green weeping foliage, tiny green or yellow flowers and red berries.
B. disticha (syn. B. nivosa, Phyllanthus nivosus) -Graceful arching plant to 4m.
B. disticha Cv. 'Atropurpurea' -Leaves are dark purple.
B. disticha Cv. 'Roseo-picta' -To 1.8m with mottled leaves pink and red.
B. oblonga -To 4m tall, tiny green flowers, orange or red berries.
B. stipulata -To 5m tall, green flowers, red berries, slightly hardier than some others in temperate climates.