Euphorbia rudis near the Gariep

Euphorbia rudis is one of many Euphorbia species at home in the Richtersveld. The dry north-west of South Africa in the Northern Cape, as well as the inland Eastern Cape are particularly rich in unusual succulent plants of this diverse genus. They display different, usually conspicuous signs of succulence, the bulky storage facilities for carrying them through drought. These swollen looking body parts are sometimes found in the stems, caudices above or partly below ground, or even in tuberous roots, well below the surface.

To see some of them, Namaqualand and the Richtersveld would be good places to visit. To see them all in habitat, one would have to visit many remote sites across Africa and also travel to Madagascar, India, Arabia, the Canary Islands and maybe further (Williamson, 2010; JSTOR; iSpot).