Euphorbia ephedroides stems and flowers

The stems of Euphorbia ephedroides fork at the base and continue to do so repeatedly higher up. The stems are stiff in one form of the plant, less so in the other. The stems are constricted into long segments. Low down old stems may be 4 mm in diameter while the upper, mainly erect ones are thinner and brittle at the joints. The internodes become up to 7 cm long.

The deciduous leaves of this plant are small, up to 8 mm long. They are elliptic to oblong in shape, fleshy and hairless. Short-lived in the drought-prone countryside where these plants grow, the leaves are seldom seen, largely replaced functionally  by the stems (Frandsen, 2017; Smith, et al, 2017; Williamson 2010; iNaturalist).