Euphorbia triangularis

The river euphorbia has yellowish green to yellow cyathia in midwinter. The fruit is globose and three-lobed, clustered as reddish beads along the stem top ridges as in this picture.

Coates Palgrave (2002) tells of an ancient Xhosa custom relating to twin children and this tree. When twins were born, the father would go into the veld to find two Euphorbia triangularis trees to transplant in front of his house. The two kids would grow up protected by their trees and die roughly at the same time as the trees one day. Some other euphorbias also used to serve this purpose.

Note that E. triangularis is not the same as E. trigona, the African milk tree that is not indigenous and may be a hybrid (Coates Palgrave, 2002; www.tuin-thijs.com).