Euphorbia spinea from above

Euphorbia spinea becomes a rounded, spreading shrublet with many pencil-like branches tapering notably to their tips. Although the plant is green and comparatively lush after the rainy season, it does not have any of the small leaves typically found on new growth. The stem-tips are probably not that young anymore.

Much dry material persists in the centre of the shrub, the dead stems turned pale brown. More of the thicker stems on their way there have already turned white. New growth and partial dying off happen concurrently on plants when the odds are heavily against in nature.

Dead branches are removed from garden plants. Out here some may drop off eventually. Or feed a veld fire faster. Death as an integral part of life is rarely hidden in nature. It is people who develop culture where unwanted parts are hidden or sanitised as if they do not exist. Nature sustains contentment, maybe even happiness, through the ever replaced young (Van Rooyen and Van Rooyen, 2019; Frandsen, 2017; iNaturalist; JSTOR).