Euphorbia clavarioides

Euphorbia clavarioides, commonly known as the lion's spoor and in Afrikaans the grootvingerpol (large finger tuft) or melkpol (milk tuft), grows a compact, flat to cushion-like mound of similarly shaped and similar length, evenly growing stem-tips tightly together on the ground. Individual stems grow from a thick, main stem body, an underground caudex that tapers down into a deep taproot. As is common with Euphorbia, milky latex appears where the plant is damaged.

The numerous stems are short or erect in the central bulge, angled out and flattening near the edges, resulting in the smoothly sculpted, graceful shape particularly striking in old plants like the one in picture. It comes about by the outer stems being pushed sideways as new ones are added in the centre. This causes the dome-shape, the outer stems angled sideways gradually achieving diminishing heights away from the centre. 

The species distribution is inland in almost all provinces of South Africa and at least also in Lesotho. It is unclear whether the two varieties, viz. var. clavarioides and var. truncata are still upheld. They are or were associated with different parts of South Africa, although overlapping geographically. The latter one is said to produce the flatter plant bodies.

The habitat is succulent Karoo, Nama Karoo, grassland, bushveld and savanna on stony shale flats and mountain slopes. The species is not considered threatened in habitat early in the twenty first century (Frandsen, 2017; Smith, et al, 2017; Pooley, 1998; Van Wyk and Malan, 1997; iNaturalist; iSpot; http://redlist.sanbi.org).