Euphorbia huttonae | Yellow-flowered medusa
€10,60
📍 Create an original space; it produces numerous branches that look like authentic octopus tentacles. A favorite for many succulent plant enthusiasts.
🌱 Morphology
It looks like a small plant jellyfish that decided to hide its body underground and bring out a few fleshy, short, and perfectly drawn arms. Its appearance is both delicate and sculptural: a thick truncated body barely protrudes from the ground, from which cylindrical branches emerge that open to the sides, covered by small geometric reliefs.
It is a glabrous succulent, without functional leaves and without thorns, with a central truncated stem about 4–10 cm thick that can protrude up to about 10 cm from the ground. Numerous extended cylindrical branches, about 4–20 cm long and 0.8–1.5 cm in diameter, grow from it. The tubercles are arranged like mosaic pieces; they are not very prominent and feature a small, whitish leaf scar. The leaves are tiny and deciduous.
🌍 Distribution, habitat, and family
Endemic to the Eastern Cape province, South Africa, where it is distributed approximately between Adelaide and Committees. It lives on stony and clayey terrain, generally on gentle slopes among low scrub, within Sub-Escarpment Grassland and Albany Thicket formations. It belongs to the Euphorbiaceae family. It is currently recognized as an independent species; Euphorbia inermis var. huttonae and Euphorbia superans are synonyms. Its conservation status in South Africa is Least Concern (LC).
❄️ Temperature — USDA Zone 9b–11b
It tolerates minimum temperatures of up to −4 ºC if it is completely dry, acclimatized, and for brief periods. In cultivation, it is wiser to protect it from prolonged frosts and, especially, from the combination of cold and humidity.
☀️ Lighting
It needs very intense lighting, with an approximate goal of 18–25 mol/m²/day of DLI PAR during active growth. It tolerates direct sun after progressive acclimatization. Good lighting promotes compact growth and the formation of robust branches.
💧 Growth cycle and watering
Winter rest. During the growth period, it is recommended to water abundantly and let the substrate dry out completely before watering again. As temperatures drop in autumn, watering is progressively reduced until it is kept practically dry during the winter. In spring, watering is resumed gradually.
🌸 Flowering
It produces small cyathia approximately 8–12 mm in diameter on short peduncles. The most striking feature is its five bright yellow glands, which can be deeply divided radially and have irregularly toothed margins. It flowers mainly between April and June in Spain, but flowering may shift depending on cultivation conditions.
🌿 Nutrition
During the active growth period, a specific fertilizer for succulents is recommended, with a high content of assimilable calcium, such as Desert CHOICE® Succulents, applied once a month when watering.
This is an inimitable xerophyte grown in Madrid in a technological square pot and with the substrate activated with mycorrhizal fungi and biofungicides.
📏 9x9 cm gourmet pot
* As this is an online purchase, the appearance of the specimen sent may vary slightly from the product image. The measurements of the plant are specified in the photo description, but this may also vary slightly because, after all, it is a living being! Each one of the Desert CITY plants has unique characteristics.
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