Euphorbia misera

Cliff spurge

Family: Euphorbiaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.2

Cliff spurge is a rare California native shrub ranked 2B.2 by CNPS, found in southern California coastal regions including the southern Channel Islands and western desert areas at elevations below 500 meters on rocky slopes and coastal bluffs. Flowering from January to August, this plant produces distinctive white petal-like appendages surrounding small red glands in cyathia at branch tips. Growing 5 to 10 decimeters tall with puberulent stems that become glabrous with age, the shrub develops alternate leaves with delicate thread-like, fringed stipules. Its leaves are small and distinctive, measuring 0.4 to 1.5 centimeters long, ovate to round, with rounded tips and slightly folded blades. The fruit is a spheric, lobed structure 4 to 5 millimeters long, bearing wrinkled white to gray seeds with a small knob.

Habitat: Rocky slopes, coastal bluffs

Bloom period: Jan-Aug

Elevation: < 500 m

Bioregions: SCo, s ChI, w DSon

California counties: Orange, Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, Santa Barbara

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.