Euphorbia dregeana

Euphorbia dregeana, commonly sometimes the thickstem milkbush and in Afrikaans the bergmelkbos (mountain milkbush) or diklootmelkbos (thick shoot milkbush), is a succulent shrub that occasionally reaches about 2 m in height. It branches much at the base into a multitude of erect green stems that radiate out and grow nearly straight and erect forming a rounded bush. Stems are thicker low down, often 3 cm thick, occasionally 5 cm.

The grey green to yellowish stems are spineless, smooth, often thicker than 2 cm across. Spineless here means not bearing spines or thorns as many euphorbias do and does not reflect on character. The stems are covered in markings all the way up to their tips, indicating where the small (8 mm long), short-lived leaves had fallen off.

Flowering stems are thinner, the flowers bunched at their tips. 

The plants grow in Namaqualand from Kamieskroon in the south, the Richtersveld and across the Gariep to Aus in Namibia.

The habitat is sandy or stony plains and slopes in arid conditions subject to temperature extremes. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Frandsen, 2017; Smith, et al, 2017; Eliovson, 1972; http://redlist.sanbi.org).