Euphorbia crenulata
Chinese caps
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Family: Euphorbiaceae · Type: Herb · Native
Euphorbia crenulata (Chinese caps) is a native California herb in the Euphorbiaceae family, recognized by horned glands and lack of appendages.
Chinese caps is a California native annual found in the California Floristic Province in dry places at elevations below 1,600 meters. Flowering from March to August, this plant produces small clusters of greenish-white cyathia in delicate, leafy-bracted cymose arrangements. Growing with ascending to erect stems 12 to 60 centimeters tall, it develops distinctive elliptic to oblanceolate leaves that are finely crenate along the edges. Its leaves range from 1.5 to 3.5 centimeters long, with proximal leaves alternately arranged and tapering to an obtuse or abruptly pointed tip. The fruit is a small 3 to 3.5 millimeter oblong structure with distinctive net-like textured seeds.
Identification and appearance
Key characters: 28 sympatric species; horned glands and lack of appendages are diagnostic
Habitat and range
Habitat: Common. Dry places
Elevation: < 1600 m
California counties: Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Siskiyou, San Mateo, Placer, Fresno, Nevada, Lake, Orange, Napa, Humboldt, Del Norte, Tuolumne, Santa Barbara, Butte, Santa Clara, Tulare, San Francisco, Contra Costa, Trinity, Riverside, Alameda, Mendocino, Madera, El Dorado, Modoc, Lassen, Colusa, Sierra, Plumas, Solano, Yuba, Tehama, Glenn, Calaveras, Amador, Sonoma, Mariposa, Marin, Ventura, San Diego, Inyo, Sacramento, Yolo
Outside California: Oregon, southern Colorado, northern New Mexico
Bloom period
Euphorbia crenulata blooms Mar-Aug.
How to tell it apart
vs Croton: Euphorbia bleeds milky white latex and packs its flowers into a tiny cup (cyathium) rimmed with nectar glands; Croton has watery sap, stellate or scaly hairs, and ordinary small separate male and female flowers.; vs Stillingia: Euphorbia flowers sit in a gland-bearing cyathium; Stillingia bears its flowers in a spike with a pair of glands flanking each subtending bract and has no cyathium cup.; vs Ditaxis: Euphorbia has latex and the cyathium; Ditaxis has clear sap, 5-parted petaled male and female flowers, and 2-forked (malpighiaceous) hairs.; vs Asclepias: Both ooze milky sap, but Euphorbia's minute flowers cluster in a cyathium and ripen into a 3-lobed capsule; milkweeds have showy 5-parted flowers with a crown and paired follicles of plumed seeds.; vs Polygonum: Prostrate mat spurges leak milky sap when torn and have paired stipules with opposite leaves at the nodes; knotweeds have clear sap and a papery sheath (ocrea) wrapping each node.
Frequently asked questions
Is Euphorbia crenulata native to California?
Yes. Euphorbia crenulata is native to California (recorded as native).
When does Euphorbia crenulata bloom?
Euphorbia crenulata blooms Mar-Aug.
Where in California does Euphorbia crenulata grow?
Euphorbia crenulata occurs in Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Siskiyou, San Mateo, Placer and other counties, at elevations of < 1600 m.
What plant family does Euphorbia crenulata belong to?
Euphorbia crenulata is in the Euphorbiaceae family, genus Euphorbia.
What habitat does Euphorbia crenulata grow in?
Euphorbia crenulata grows in Common. Dry places.
Related species
Other California species in the same genus, family, or bioregion.
Sources: Jepson eFlora · Index of California Plant Names · CalPhotos
Last updated 2026-10-07
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Cal-IPC, and more.