Euphorbia mauritanica bearing many fruit

This Euphorbia mauritanica bush in the western Little Karoo near Barrydale has much to show for its seasonal reproductive efforts up to October. Clusters of well-formed fruits ring most tips of the numerous, base-branched, erect pencil-stems.

The surrounding vegetation is largely small-leaved, while E. mauritanica is a stem succulent bearing only ephemeral leaves. These stems provide a different solution in low moisture lifestyles. While the leaves are short-lived, there are no spines on this Euphorbia, unlike so many of the other South African species (Smith, et al, 2017; Frandsen, 2017; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015).