Euphorbia polygona

Euphorbia polygona, previously E. horrida is commonly called the African milk barrel and in Afrikaans the bobbejaannoors (baboon spurge). The barrel-shaped to cylindrical stems or the milky latex (wolf milk) that the plant (and other euphorbias) exude when damaged, or both, may have given rise to the milk barrel name. The multistemmed plant is short and robust, many of the green to greyish, ribbed margin stems leaning slightly. Some forms of the variable plant become up to 1 m tall, some forms as tall as 2 m.

Spiny stem ridges vary from seven to twenty. While young stems may be pale or deep shades of green, mature ones are bluish or grey. The false flowers are dark purple, about 7 mm in diameter. Blooming happens in autumn or winter.

Here one is shown in midsummer with well-formed, almost spherical, green fruits. This is a female, fruit-bearing plant, the species being dioecious. The three yellow style branches still spread on top of the ovaries turned fruits.

The species distribution is in the east of the Western Cape, from Ladismith in the Little Karoo through Karoo parts of the Eastern Cape like Jansenville, Willowmore and as far east as Makhanda (Grahamstown), different forms of the plant known in different parts of this range.

The habitat is rocky outcrops in arid and semi-arid karoid scrub, often where spekboom is also found. The species is not considered threatened in habitat early in the twenty first century. The photo was taken in the Karoo Desert National Botanical Garden in Worcester where several Euphorbia species thrive.

This plant often faces harsh conditions in the arid southern parts of the Great Karoo and elsewhere in its natural habitat. In cultivation it thrives on little water and care. Many living species survive in conditions that test them to the utmost. The utmost is being redefined by climate change. Looking good in gardening terms comes from living a little more comfortably. Even to humans exceptional performance is associated with exceptional and memorable moments. A lot of living goes on in-between those peak and testing times (Euston-Brown and Kruger, 2023; Frandsen, 2017; Smith, et al, 2017; iNaturalist; http://houseplantz.net; http://redlist.sanbi.org).