Euphorbia dendroides
Tree spurge
(c) anonymous, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · licence
Family: Euphorbiaceae · Type: Shrub · Not Native
Euphorbia dendroides (Tree spurge) is a non-native California shrub in the Euphorbiaceae family, recognized by shrub habit and size are unique.
Tree spurge is a naturalized shrub found in southern California and western Transverse Ranges in disturbed areas at elevations below 550 meters. Flowering throughout the year, this plant produces yellow-tinted flowers in clusters from leafy branches. Growing as a rounded, much-branched shrub 10 to 20 meters tall with spreading stems marked by persistent leaf scars, it develops distinctive narrow elliptic to oblanceolate leaves 4 to 8 centimeters long. Its leaves are alternately arranged, crowded along the stem, with the uppermost leaves forming a single whorl of 4 to 7 leaves. The fruit is spheric, deeply lobed, approximately 5 to 6 millimeters in size with smooth seeds about 3.5 millimeters long.
Identification and appearance
Key characters: 18 sympatric species; shrub habit and size are unique
Habitat and range
Habitat: Disturbed areas
Elevation: < 550 m
Outside California: native to Mediterranean, Canary Islands
Bloom period
Euphorbia dendroides blooms All year.
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 dendroides native to California?
No. Euphorbia dendroides is not native to California (recorded as not native).
When does Euphorbia dendroides bloom?
Euphorbia dendroides blooms All year.
What plant family does Euphorbia dendroides belong to?
Euphorbia dendroides is in the Euphorbiaceae family, genus Euphorbia.
What habitat does Euphorbia dendroides grow in?
Euphorbia dendroides grows in Disturbed areas.
Related species
Other California species in the same genus, family, or bioregion.
Sources: Jepson eFlora · 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.