Euphorbia Mauritanica - Pencil Milkbush 10L

Euphorbia mauritanica is a monoecious, spineless, much-branched succulent shrub, about 1.5 m high, with branches arising from a thick root stock. Branches are yellowish green, pencil-thin, cylindrical and smooth, with alternate leaf scars. This plant produces yellow cyathia (the term used for the inflorescence of euphorbias) that are in a compact group at the end of each young branch. The flowering period is in spring, between August and October. When the plant is injured, it produces milky sap at the cut.

Euphorbia mauritanica grows very well in dry climates and in coastal as well as inland areas with colder winters. This plant occurs extensively throughout the Northern Cape, Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, as well as in Namibia. This is the most widely distributed of all the South African shrubby euphorbias. It is found in most of southern Africa, especially the Succulent Karroo, where it is frequently dominant in valleys and hillsides.

E. mauritanica may cause a fatal nervous disorder in sheep, characterized by muscle tremors, foaming at the mouth, bloating, diarrhoea and fever.

Euphorbia mauritanica can be used as a feature plant in a rockery garden; gardeners like it for being colourful and drought resistant.