Euphorbia dregeana E.Mey. ex Boiss.

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Habit
20 Feb 2018

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Habit
20 Feb 2018

Family:	Euphorbiaceae
Full name:	Euphorbia dregeana E.Mey. ex Boiss.
ID status:	Fairly certain
Afrikaans common name(s):	Dikloot melkbos, Dikboud melkbos
English common name(s):	Slender milk bush
Synonym(s):	Euphorbia elastica Marloth
Status:	Near-endemic
Description:	A succulent leafless spineless bush, 3–6 ft. high and as much or more in diam., very much-branched at the base; main stems 2–3 in. (Pearson), 0.75–1.25 in. (Marloth) thick at the base, erect, branching; flowering branches alternate, cylindric, 0.333– 0.5 in. thick, with prominent leaf-scars, very minutely puberulous on the young parts, becoming glabrous, or sometimes apparently quite glabrous, whitish-green, sometimes covered with a dry whitish exudation when dried; leaves alternate, rather rudimentary, only present on very young branchlets, soon deciduous, sessile, or subsessile, 1.5–4 lin. long, 1.75–2.75 lin. broad, ovate or ovate-deltoid, acute or obtuse, channelled down the face, recurved, somewhat fleshy, minutely puberulous; umbels or cymes terminal, solitary or 2 to several more or less clustered at the ends of short alternate erect branchlets, 1.5–3 in. in diam., 3-rayed; rays 0.75–3 in. long, usually 1–3-times forked, but occasionally simple, minutely puberulous; bracts sessile, 2–3.5 lin. long, 3.5–6 lin. broad, nearly half-circular or rounded-subrhomboid when flattened out, obtuse or apiculate, concave, minutely puberulous on both sides; involucre sessile, 3–4 lin. in diam. and about 1.75 lin. deep, subglobose-cup-shaped, puberulous outside, glabrous within, with 5 glands overtopped by 5 erect subquadrate slightly fringed or very shortly and densely ciliate lobes; glands 1.25–1.5 lin. long and 1.5–1.75 lin. broad when flattened out, somewhat ovate-triangular or deltoid, with the part adnate to the involucre acute or subacute and the outer part subtruncate or crenulate or slightly lobed and wavy, incurved in dried specimens, but probably more or less deflexed or spreading and concave when alive, puberulous on the back, glabrous on the inner or upper surface; capsule sessile, 3 lin. long, 4–4.5 lin. in diam., somewhat 6-angled, with 3 of the angles subacute, minutely puberulous; styles 1–1.25 lin. long, united for 0.5– 0.75 of their length, with erect or recurved-spreading bifid (or entire?) tips; seeds 2 lin. long, oblong, somewhat 4-angled, slightly pointed at one end, smooth, pale brown in the examples seen, but perhaps unripe. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora Capensis) Multistemmed, spineless, succulent shrub, up to 2 x 2 m, often smaller. Stems erect to sprrudinu, cylindrical, clearly tapering, pale blue- or grey-green, with distinct leaf scars, often scurfy. Leaves deciduous, seldom present. Flowering branches up to 12 mm in cross-section. Inflorescence 16 distinctive flat, terminal cluster, with showy yellow bracts below each cyathium. Glands yellow, margin entire or slightly scalloped, cupped by bracts. Flowering winter to spring. Capsules sessile, about 6 x 9 mm when mature, slightly 6-angled, with fine hairs. This is a common, attractive, and distinctive species that is often found along dry washes, on gravelly plains, and on the lower slopes of koppies and mountains in the south-west of Namibia and the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. It is possibly of horticultural potential and is sometimes host to the unusual root parasite Hydnora triceps. It can be confused with E. mauritanica in the area covered by this guide. The latter is much less robust and has far smaller capsules and thinner branches. (from Wildflowers of the southern Namib by Coleen Mannheimer)
Link(s)	African Plant Database JSTOR Plant Science Kew Herbarium Catalogue BGBM Berlin-Dahlem - Virtual Herbarium Züricher Herbarien iNaturalist (Namibia / Alex Dreyer) iNaturalist (Namibia) iNaturalist (southern Africa) Flora of Zimbabwe Fleurs de notre Terre - Galerie Namibie Tree Atlas of Namibia
Content last updated:	18 Apr 2024