Euphorbia hamata
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Habit
12 Feb 2020
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Habit
12 Feb 2020
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Habitat
12 Feb 2020
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Stems
12 Feb 2020
| Family: | Euphorbiaceae |
| Full name: | Euphorbia hamata (Haw.) Sweet |
| ID status: | Fairly certain |
| Afrikaans common name(s): | Olifantsmelkbos, Beesmelkbos, Beeskrag |
| English common name(s): | Elephant's milk-bush |
| Synonym(s): | Dactylanthes hamata Haw. Euphorbia cervicornis Boiss. fide World Checklist & Bibliogr. Euphorbiaceae, vol 2 p 869 Euphorbia peltigera E.Mey. ex Boiss. |
| Status: | Near-endemic |
| Description: | Succulent, bushily branched, sometimes forming large dense masses up to 1 ft. high, unisexual, with an elongated or oblong tuber-like rootstock 1–2 in. (or more) in diam.; branches 3–6 (or when dried 1.5–4) lin. thick, fleshy, somewhat 3-angled, with somewhat distant conical tubercles scattered along them, glabrous, green, becoming grey on the old parts; tubercles 1–8 lin. prominent, horizontally spreading or slightly recurved, bounded by a slight furrow and obtusely 3-ribbed down the decurrent part, bearing leaves when young and after their fall at first somewhat acute, but with age the apex of the tubercle withers and becomes obtusely rounded; leaves 0.333– 0.667 in. long, 0.25– 0.5 in. broad, sessile on the tubercles, ovate, elliptic or lanceolate, obtuse or acute, rounded or broadly cuneate at the base, flat or slightly folded lengthwise, very slightly fleshy, glabrous on both sides, green, soon deciduous; bracts usually 3 in a whorl, forming a cup around a solitary involucre at the apex of the branches and branchlets, 3–5 lin. long, 2–5 lin. broad, usually suborbicular and obtuse and apiculate at the apex, or occasionally broadly ovate and acute, glabrous, apparently yellow or yellowish; involucre sessile, much shorter than the bracts, 2.5–3.5 lin. in diam., unisexual, cup-shaped, glabrous, with 5 glands and 5 fringed lobes; glands distant, probably spreading or deflexed, usually smaller than the lobes, 0.75–1 lin. long and broad, suborbicular, with the outer margin minutely crenulate (not toothed) or entire, and the inner slightly turned up, apparently yellow in some specimens and red in others, possibly changing with age; capsule sessile, 0.25 in. in diam., subglobose, glabrous; styles united into a column 1.5–1.75 lin. long, with short spreading bifid tips; seeds 1.5 lin. long, ovoid, obtuse and with 3 slight radiating keels at the apex, minutely rugulose, grey. (from JSTOR Global Plants website / Flora Capensis) Attractive, rounded, succulent shrub, up to 450 mm high, much-branched from base. Branches 6-13 mm in diameter, obscurely 3-angled, with distinctive fleshy, conical, often recurved tubercles that carry sessile, folded leaves when young; tubercles sharp just after leaves fall, becoming progressively blunter with age. Inflorescence sessile, solitary, terminal cyathium, carried above showy yellowish to reddish bracts forming a cup-like structure. Glands yellow, sometimes tipped red, with fringed margin. Flowering winter to spring. Capsules sessile, about 6 mm in diameter when mature, subglobose, smooth. This species, which occurs in south-western Namibia and the Northern and Western Cape Provinces of South Africa, is usually found on rocky koppies and would make an attractive subject for succulent rockeries, as it does well in cultivation. In areas outside Namibia it has been observed that cattle browse it. (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 |
