Euphorbia chamaesyceL.

WFO wfo-0000961329 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 7 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 7 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Euphorbia chamaesyce, photographed by Santiago Martín-Bravo
fig. a Santiago Martín-Bravo, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-06-04 / obs. 133898417
Euphorbia chamaesyce, photographed by Santiago Soto Maurer
fig. b Santiago Soto Maurer, CC0 1.0 / obs. 22286570
Euphorbia chamaesyce, photographed by Thomas Koffel
fig. c Thomas Koffel, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 8812820
Euphorbia chamaesyce, photographed by Santiago Martín-Bravo
fig. d Santiago Martín-Bravo, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 133898444
Euphorbia chamaesyce, photographed by Roman
fig. e Roman, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 50122933
Euphorbia chamaesyce, photographed by Roman
fig. f Roman, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 21116869
Euphorbia chamaesyce, photographed by Михаил Орлов
fig. g Михаил Орлов, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 94445971
Euphorbia chamaesyce, photographed by Astra
fig. h Astra, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 83463703

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 40 botanical countries

Regions where Euphorbia chamaesyce is native: Algeria, Canary Is., Cape Verde, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Afghanistan, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Albania, Baleares, Bulgaria, Corse, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kriti, NW. Balkan Pen., Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, Spain, Türkiye-in-Europe AlgeriaEgyptLibyaMoroccoTunisiaAfghanistanCyprusEast Aegean Is.IranIraqKazakhstanKirgizstanLebanon-SyriaNorth CaucasusPalestineSaudi ArabiaTadzhikistanTranscaucasusTürkiyeTurkmenistanUzbekistanPakistanAlbaniaBulgariaCorseFranceGreeceHungaryItalyKritiNW. Balkan Pen.PortugalRomaniaSiciliaSpainTürkiye-in-Europe Canary Is.Cape VerdeBalearesSardegna
Native distribution of Euphorbia chamaesyce, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
Cyprus CYP
East Aegean Is. EAI
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Kazakhstan KAZ
Kirgizstan KGZ
Lebanon-Syria LBS
North Caucasus NCS
Palestine PAL
Saudi Arabia SAU
Tadzhikistan TZK
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Turkmenistan TKM
Uzbekistan UZB
Albania ALB EUROPE
Baleares BAL
Bulgaria BUL
Corse COR
France FRA
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
Spain SPA
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Canary Is. CNY
Cape Verde CVI
Egypt EGY
Libya LBY
Morocco MOR
Tunisia TUN
Pakistan PAK ASIA-TROPICAL

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 150 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -5.2 °C 1.1 °C 9.8 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 25.1 °C 28.6 °C 34.9 °C
Annual rainfall 391 mm 650 mm 1,083 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 3 mm 76 mm 165 mm

It is found where winters bring hard frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 150 research-grade observations of Euphorbia chamaesyce that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 39 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Anisophyllum chamaesyce (L.) Haw.
  • Anisophyllum vaticanum Gand.
  • Chamaesyce canescens (L.) Prokh.
  • Chamaesyce canescens subsp. glabra (Roeper) Soják
  • Chamaesyce canescens subsp. massiliensis (DC.) Soják
  • Chamaesyce chamaesyce (L.) Hurus.
  • Chamaesyce libassii (Lojac.) Giardina & Raimondo
  • Chamaesyce massiliensis (DC.) Galushko
  • Chamaesyce vulgaris Prokh.
  • Chamaesyce vulgaris subsp. massiliensis (DC.) Benedí & J.J.Orell
  • Ditrita rotundifolia Raf.
  • Ditritea rotundifolia Raf.
  • Euphorbia canescens L.
  • Euphorbia canescens var. microphylla Sennen & Elías
  • Euphorbia chamaesyce f. glabra (Roep.) Thell.
  • Euphorbia chamaesyce f. pilosa (Roep.) Thell.
  • Euphorbia chamaesyce subsp. canescens (L.) Holmboe
  • Euphorbia chamaesyce subsp. canescens Prokh.
  • Euphorbia chamaesyce var. canescens (L.) Sm.
  • Euphorbia chamaesyce var. gabriuscula Lange
  • Euphorbia chamaesyce var. glabra Roep.
  • Euphorbia chamaesyce var. glabriuscula Lange
  • Euphorbia chamaesyce var. hirsuta Sennen
  • Euphorbia chamaesyce var. massiliensis (DC.) P.Fourn.

and 15 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.