Euphorbia heptagona or klipnoors

The stems of Euphorbia heptagona grow to 3 cm in diameter with 6 to 8 angled ridges covered in long thin and sharp spines. The spines seen here in winter are pale maroon on the green young growth. Spines are spaced without the visible hard shields found at the spine bases of some Euphorbia species. Old spines turn darker until they dry out and becoming whitish grey or drop off. They leave small scars on the ridges of the by then grey old stem sections lower down.

The flowers of E. heptagona appearing in winter and early spring are green and red, the sexes occurring on separate plants (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; iSpot).