Euphorbia avasmontana has many names

Euphorbia avasmontana is scattered in nature in dry, bare and stony terrain on both sides of the Gariep (Orange) River. It grows in cultivation in the Goegap Nature Reserve near Springbok and in Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden.

Two earlier botanical names suggest something of the plant’s distribution, viz. E. kalaharica and E. karasmontana.

Two English common names divulge something about the plant’s appearance, viz. crown-of-thorns and slender candelabra euphorbia.

An Afrikaans common name says something about its use as a human tool: boesmangif (poison of the San, the Bushmen) and boesmangifboom (Bushman poison tree). Skraalnoors (slender spurge) is a common Afrikaans name. The plant is also called the avasnoors (avas spurge) in Afrikaans, there presumably being a mountain in the region called Avas. It can't be too big (Frandsen, 2017; Smith, et al, 2017; Van Jaarsveld, et al, 2006; iNaturalist; www.cactus-art.biz).