Euphorbia susannae

Euphorbia susannae, commonly Susanne's spurge, sometimes hedgehog milkball and in Afrikaans knoppiesnoors (little knobs spurge), is a succulent shrublet reaching heights around 5 cm, while the rosettes spread to 15 cm in diameter.

The plant may form clumps over time, the tuberous main stem and taproot forming side-branches from which only the broad stem-tips show above-ground. The branches are eleven- to eighteen-angled or -ridged. Numerous small tubercles are long and pointed along the ridges, initially tipped with bristle-like leaves.

The plants are unisexual or dioecious, meaning that male and female flowers grow on separate plants. The greenish yellow male cyathia are solitary or paired on peduncles emerging between the tubercles. The false flowers are about 5 mm in diameter. Flowering happens in autumn and winter. The branched plant in picture is female displaying three-locular, green and brownish capsules from some of the stem rosettes.

The species distribution is restricted in the Western Cape between Barrydale in the Little Karoo and Muiskraal north of Riversdale.

The habitat is karoid scrub flats and gradual slopes in quartzitic clay soils. The plant is considered threatened in habitat early in the twenty first century, due to habitat destruction, range restriction and unscrupulous, illegal plant collectors.

This plant was only discovered in 1925 by Dr John Muir, whose wife was honoured in the naming (Frandsen, 2017; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org)