Euphorbia stolonifera ring of female flowers

The cyathia or false flowers of Euphorbia stolonifera appear in clusters of a particular shape and sequence at stem-tips: The monoecious species grows a single, male, pollen-bearing flower at the stem-tip, followed a little later by a surrounding ring of about five female flowers bearing ovaries topped with styles. This inflorescence structure is similar to that found in E. mauritanica.

The female flowers in picture are prominently stalked, the stalks angled out, starting off purplish. The male flower in the centre, obscured in the photo, is shorter and older. All the individual flowers of both genders are ringed around the base by five flat, nearly disc-shaped glands. These glands start off yellow-green, yellowish or olive-green, turning orange-brown, a sign of floral maturity and ageing.

After the male flower has opened, the female ones arrive together, maturing later. The male flower may have dropped off by the time the ring of fruit ripens.

Flowering starts in winter or late autumn, continuing until spring (Smith, et al, 2017; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist).