Euphorbia multifolia

Euphorbia multifolia, commonly in Afrikaans the klippol (stone tuft) or ystervarkpol (porcupine tuft), is a dense, cushion-forming and spiny shrublet that becomes up to 60 cm tall and as wide. Much-branched and rebranched, the succulent lives long in unlikely conditions, forming a shallow, green dome, often among rocks.

The numerous stem-tips of similar length may at times be invisible under leaves and flowers as in the photo. The leaves are shed during drought only. The stems become about 3 cm thick.

The species distribution is in or near the Swartberg Mountains in the southwestern Karoo near Laingsburg to Prince Albert and over the mountains to the south in the western Little Karoo around Ladismith. The photo was taken at  Sanbona Wildlife Reserve west of Ladismith.

The habitat is succulent Karoo and Nama Karoo on stony slopes in sandy or shale soils. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century.

The species is associated with and similar to E. eustacei found near Matjiesfontein (Frandsen, 2017; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; https://www.llifle.com; http://redlist.sanbi.org).