Euphorbia caerulescens

Euphorbia caerulescens, called noors in Afrikaans, is a perennial stem succulent that grows a clump of erect stems to 1,5 m in height. Underground rhizomes allow for some of the stems to appear unconnected aboveground. A mature plant covers an area of more than 1 m in diameter.

The yellow cyathia of E. caerulescens are bisexual, about 5 mm in diameter. They appear at stem-tips in spring and summer.

The plant is common in the arid parts of the Eastern Cape, also in the Little Karoo. It grows on rocky outcrops of hills, mostly on the northern slopes. The noors can be dominant in the vegetation of its habitat.

The plant in picture shows young spine pairs varying in colour as they age, as well as on the same spine from base to tip. A few small, green, rounded and curving leaves grow freshly on this stem top, soon to disappear. When the stem ridges are more than four they protrude; not so when the four create a square in cross-section, the sides being about flat (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; www.cactus-art.biz).