Genus of about 14 species of bushy, succulent shrubs and small trees occuring mainly in low, rocky terrain in Mexico, Central and South America, the West Indies, and Florida. The house plant Pedilanthus is a leafy shrub known by its zig-zag stem. The stem is green and grows to about 2 feet long. It changes direction every inch or so, first to the left and then to the right. This subtropical succulent is a distant relative of the familiar Christmas poinsettia.