Euphorbia cooperi bare stem

The old Euphorbia cooperi tree may have a naked stem of about 3 m below the first and longest branches curving up at their tips. Upper branches curve progressively earlier, forming the rounded crown of similarly spaced stem-tips.

The characteristic segments on the stems are spaced by fairly regular constrictions between protruding ridge parts of the segments, the youngest ones heart-shaped at the stem-tips.

There are holes in the grey, rough bark of the bare stem down below, left by the oldest branches continually dropping off and replaced by new ones at the top (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Pooley, 1993).