Euphorbia caput-medusae floral paraphernalia

The cyathia of Euphorbia caput-medusae grow in a ring around the neat stem-tip leaf rosette. The thick, oblong leaves are here slightly concave on top, dull purple and green, outdone by the flowering.

Flowers, false flowers or cyathia appear in many shapes: it pays to entertain the pollinators! Pale, fleshy branchlets of many shapes and sizes grow around the five olive-green glands surrounding the inner, important flowering parts. These outlying parts may have pollinator noticeboard significance, similar to the function of corollas in other flowers.

Successful noticeboards conveniently serve as landing pads as well. Plants are more accommodating to their animal life partners than people might think (Grenier, 2019; Smith, et al, 2017).