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Euphorbia balsamifera; photograph (c) Rosario Douglas, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Rosario Douglas, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2014-06-01

Euphorbia balsamifera Aiton

Balsam spurge

Euphorbiaceae · Morocco, Western Sahara +1 · listed by its genus as a cactus or succulent

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Euphorbia balsamifera, photograph (c) Rosario Douglas, some rights reserved (CC BY)Euphorbia balsamifera, photograph (c) Silvan Alder, some rights reserved (CC BY)Euphorbia balsamifera, photograph (c) Daniel Heras González, some rights reserved (CC BY)Euphorbia balsamifera, photograph (c) Daniel Heras González, some rights reserved (CC BY)Euphorbia balsamifera, photograph (c) Daniel Heras González, some rights reserved (CC BY)Euphorbia balsamifera, photograph (c) Vítor Jorge, some rights reserved (CC BY) 61 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
15.6°C
Record low 13.3 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
23°C
Aug and Sep at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
312mm
6 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
22–48DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet winters: the rain comes November to March, read as a winter growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Euphorbia balsamifera (balsam spurge) is a flowering plant in the spurge family Euphorbiaceae. It is distributed in the Canary Islands and the western Sahara. It is the vegetable symbol of the island of Lanzarote. Euphorbia adenensis has been treated as a subspecies of this species.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Euphorbia balsamifera", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Euphorbia

Euphorbia is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants, commonly called spurge, in the family Euphorbiaceae.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Euphorbia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent, listed under the genus Euphorbia in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “semisucculent subshrub”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (242 mm of 306 mm) falls in November to March, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 17.2 °C against a yearly mean of 18.9 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: May to September.

Rain

306 mm in the median year at the habitat, 242 mm of it November to March. Wettest month December at 63 mm, driest month July at 1 mm; 3 months under 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 149 mm to 571 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 312 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 306 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 22 to 48 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 20, the highest 90th-percentile month 50).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 15.6 °C, the absolute minimum 13.3 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 26.5 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 15.2 °C in February (across the grid cells of the range 12.8 °C to 16.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 23.1 °C in September (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 15.6 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 59 to 63% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -61 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the genus Euphorbia in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “semisucculent subshrub”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Euphorbia balsamifera through the yearWarmest months August and September, mean daily high 23 °C; coldest month February, mean nightly low 15.2 °C; 306 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.10°15°20°25°30°26.5° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER13.3° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125mm rainDLI 22–48RH 59–63%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 213 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C18 / 16–1918 / 16–1918 / 16–2018 / 17–2019 / 18–2121 / 20–2222 / 21–2523 / 22–2523 / 22–2522 / 20–2421 / 18–2219 / 17–20
Night °C15 / 13–1715 / 13–1716 / 13–1716 / 14–1717 / 15–1819 / 17–2020 / 18–2121 / 19–2221 / 19–2220 / 18–2118 / 16–2017 / 14–18
Rain mm45 / 23–7550 / 24–8634 / 16–6516 / 7–345 / 2–132 / 1–51 / 0–32 / 1–58 / 3–1630 / 13–6450 / 21–9363 / 36–124
DLI24 / 22–2630 / 28–3238 / 36–4043 / 42–4547 / 45–4848 / 46–5047 / 46–4944 / 43–4639 / 38–4132 / 30–3425 / 23–2722 / 20–24
RH %59 / 57–6261 / 58–6360 / 57–6361 / 58–6461 / 58–6563 / 58–6863 / 53–6963 / 54–6963 / 58–6763 / 60–6661 / 59–6461 / 59–64
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 213 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (969 records in those cells; 19 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1240:3292 (27.975, -15.375). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 13.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 15.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 26.5 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 213 distinct grid cells holding 969 of the 992 in-range records (19 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1240:3292 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 28.00_-15.625, lapse-corrected -61 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 48 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMorocco, Western Sahara, Canary Is. · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker28.102, -16.555 · in the densest population, 768 records (72% of those in range)
Kew's description“semisucculent subshrub” · “desert or dry shrubland” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1061 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 969 of them in the land cells it reads, of 992 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 425 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 3 km away. 258 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 69 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1061 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Euphorbia balsamifera, photograph 1did not loadEuphorbia balsamifera, photograph 2did not loadEuphorbia balsamifera, photograph 3did not loadEuphorbia balsamifera, photograph 4did not loadEuphorbia balsamifera, photograph 5did not loadEuphorbia balsamifera, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Rosario Douglas, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Silvan Alder, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Daniel Heras González, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Vítor Jorge, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Tamarix canariensis Tamarix canariensis Canary Island tamarisk Photo: CC BY, jeanjacquesgodonAsteriscus sericeus Asteriscus sericeus Canary Island Daisy Photo: CC BY, AmetsakForsskaolea angustifolia Forsskaolea angustifolia Urticaceae Photo: CC BY, Daniel Heras GonzálezAstydamia latifolia Astydamia latifolia Apiaceae Photo: CC BY, Daniel Heras GonzálezKleinia neriifolia Kleinia neriifolia Canary Islands Candle-Plant Photo: CC BY, Christoph Kramer Autonoe latifolia Asparagaceae

Other Euphorbia 400 in the reference

Euphorbia abdelkuri Euphorbia abdelkuri Abd al Kuri euphorbia Photo: CC BY-SA, Stan ShebsEuphorbia abyssinica Euphorbia abyssinica Abyssinian spurge Photo: CC BY-SA, Frank VincentzEuphorbia acanthothamnos Euphorbia acanthothamnos Greek spiny spurge Photo: CC BY, Eleftherios KatsillisEuphorbia adenensis Euphorbia adenensis Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY, Joey BomEuphorbia aeruginosa Euphorbia aeruginosa Miniature Saguaro Photo: CC0, author not statedEuphorbia aggregata Euphorbia aggregata Pincushion euphorbia Photo: CC BY-SA, Frank VincentzEuphorbia albipollinifera Euphorbia albipollinifera Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Frank VincentzEuphorbia alfredii Euphorbia alfredii Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Frank VincentzEuphorbia alluaudii Euphorbia alluaudii Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY, amantedarmaninEuphorbia ambovombensis Euphorbia ambovombensis Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Frank VincentzEuphorbia ammak Euphorbia ammak Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Frank VincentzEuphorbia ampliphylla Euphorbia ampliphylla Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Medium69 (William Crochot) all 401 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Euphorbia balsamifera subsp. balsamifera; Euphorbia balsamifera subsp. rogeri; Euphorbia balsamifera var. rogeri; Euphorbia rogeri; Tithymalus balsamifer. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Euphorbiaceae
Described by
Aiton
Native to
Morocco, Western Sahara, Canary Is.
Wild records
1061 in range · 425 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 41 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (12 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 29 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 28.00_-15.625, lapse-corrected -61 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 35 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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