Euphorbia inermis | Medusa's head spurge
€10,60
📍 Creates an original space, producing numerous branches that look like authentic octopus tentacles. A favorite among many succulent enthusiasts.
🌱 Morphology
It looks like a small plant-based Medusa that has hidden its body underground and extended dozens of arms around it to explore the terrain. Its thick central stem barely protrudes from the substrate, and from it emerge numerous cylindrical, green, and fleshy branches that open radially, forming a true living sculpture. It has no thorns: its prickly appearance comes solely from the small geometric reliefs that cover the branches.
It is a glabrous succulent 7–20 cm tall, with a truncated central stem about 3–10 cm thick, partially buried, from which numerous extended branches depart. These grayish-green branches can measure approximately 4–40 cm in length and 0.6–1.2 cm in diameter, although they can lengthen considerably in cultivation. The tubercles are rhomboid, not very prominent, and arranged like a regular mosaic; each one features a small white leaf scar. The leaves are tiny, rudimentary, and deciduous.
🌍 Distribution, habitat, and family
It is endemic to South Africa and is distributed in the Eastern Cape, approximately from Jeffreys Bay to Port Elizabeth and Addo. It inhabits flat, stony, and clay-textured terrain, growing among low shrubs in Eastern Fynbos-Renosterveld and Albany Thicket formations. It belongs to the Euphorbiaceae family. It is listed as Least Concern (LC) on the South African Red List for plants.
❄️ Temperature — USDA Zone 9b–11b
It tolerates minimum temperatures of up to −4 ºC if it is completely dry, acclimatized, and for brief periods. Cold accompanied by humidity is much more dangerous than a temporary drop in temperature on a dry plant.
☀️ Lighting
It requires very intense lighting, with an approximate goal of 18–25 mol/m²/day of DLI PAR during active growth. It can be grown in full sun after progressive acclimatization. Insufficient lighting encourages branch elongation and causes it to lose part of its characteristic compact shape.
💧 Growth cycle and watering
Winter rest. During the growth period, it is recommended to water abundantly and allow the substrate to dry completely before watering again. As winter approaches, water intake is progressively reduced until it is kept practically dry during the rest period. In spring, watering resumes gradually.
🌸 Flowering
The cyathia appear solitary in the axils of the tubercles, near the ends of the branches, on short peduncles of about 3–5 mm. They measure approximately 8–13 mm in diameter and feature five dark green glands, whose margins develop characteristic white inflorescences, often branched, reminiscent of small antlers. Between the glands appear numerous whitish bracteoles that give the inflorescence a slightly cottony appearance. It flowers mainly between April and June in Spain.
🌿 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 high-tech square pot with the substrate activated with mycorrhizal fungi.
S -> 9cm x 9cm
M-> 14cm x 14 cm
L->16cm x 16 cm
* Since 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 it is a living being! Each of the Desert CITY plants has unique characteristics.
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