Euphorbia cotinifoliaL.

Mexican shrubby spurge

WFO wfo-0000961528 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Euphorbia cotinifolia, photographed by Conrado Pável de Oliveira
fig. a Conrado Pável de Oliveira, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-04-11 / obs. 120731266
Euphorbia cotinifolia, photographed by Conrado Pável de Oliveira
fig. b Conrado Pável de Oliveira, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 102265368
Euphorbia cotinifolia, photographed by Sabarni Sarker
fig. c Sabarni Sarker, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 97891982
Euphorbia cotinifolia, photographed by Jake Rehage
fig. d Jake Rehage, CC0 1.0 / obs. 84104758
Euphorbia cotinifolia, photographed by Álvaro Rivas Godin
fig. e Álvaro Rivas Godin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 64220731
Euphorbia cotinifolia, photographed by Peter Andersen
fig. f Peter Andersen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 202610550
Euphorbia cotinifolia, photographed by julianazuluaga-carrero
fig. g julianazuluaga-carrero, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 190447522
Euphorbia cotinifolia, photographed by Michelle Monge-Velazquez
fig. h Michelle Monge-Velazquez, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 187872110

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 24 botanical countries

Regions where Euphorbia cotinifolia is native: Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Bolivia, Brazil North, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panamá, Peru, Southwest Caribbean, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela Mexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestBoliviaBrazil NorthColombiaCosta RicaEcuadorEl SalvadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHondurasNicaraguaPanamáPeruSouthwest CaribbeanSurinameTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela Netherlands Antilles
Native distribution of Euphorbia cotinifolia, 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
Bolivia BOL SOUTHERN AMERICA
Brazil North BZN
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Ecuador ECU
El Salvador ELS
French Guiana FRG
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Honduras HON
Netherlands Antilles NLA
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Peru PER
Southwest Caribbean SWC
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Venezuela VEN
Mexico Central MXC NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS

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 571 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 6.3 °C 13.3 °C 23.2 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 19.9 °C 26.2 °C 31.5 °C
Annual rainfall 714 mm 1,863 mm 3,832 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 18 mm 160 mm 627 mm

It is barely found anywhere that freezes. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 571 research-grade observations of Euphorbia cotinifolia 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 21 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.

  • Aklema cotinifolia (L.) Millsp.
  • Aklema scotana Millsp.
  • Aklema scotanum Millsp.
  • Aklema yavalquahuitl Millsp.
  • Alectoroctonum caracasanum Klotzsch & Garcke
  • Alectoroctonum cotinifolium (L.) Schltdl.
  • Alectoroctonum cotinoides Klotzsch & Garcke
  • Alectoroctonum riedelianum Klotzsch & Garcke
  • Alectoroctonum scotanum Schltdl.
  • Alectoroctonum willdenowii Klotzsch & Garcke
  • Alectoroctonum yavalquahuitl Schltdl.
  • Euphorbia caracasana (Klotzsch & Garcke) Boiss.
  • Euphorbia cotinoides Miq.
  • Euphorbia cotinoides var. riedeliana (Klotzsch & Garcke) Müll.Arg.
  • Euphorbia cotinoides var. verrucosa Boiss.
  • Euphorbia scotana (Schltdl.) Boiss.
  • Euphorbia scotana var. yavalquahuitl (Schltdl.) Boiss.
  • Euphorbia scotanum Schltdl.
  • Euphorbia scotanum var. yavalquahuitl Boiss.
  • Euphorbia venenata Schltdl.
  • Tithymalus cotinifolius (L.) Haw.

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. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. 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.