Euphorbia tirucalli pink and white cyathia

This stem-tip cluster of Euphorbia tirucalli false flowers show a neat ring of dull pinkish glands like fleshy Mickey Mouse ears on the upper rim of each involucre.

The glands are the nectaries producing nectar for the benefit of pollinators. Nectary glands are sometimes more flower-like in Euphorbia than the vital floral parts themselves. They surround the erect, stalked male or female flowers ending in anthers or styles respectively. The plant being dioecious, only male false flowers bearing anthers with pollen are present here; or bare white filaments bearing nothing at their tips.

The fruits growing on female plants are weakly three-lobed capsules, about 12 mm in diameter and green, sometimes flushed pink (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Van Wyk and Van Wyk, 1997; https://hort.purdue.edu).