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Euphorbia cactus; photograph Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SAFrank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Euphorbia cactus Ehrenb. ex Boiss.

Euphorbiaceae · Eritrea, Ethiopia +4 · listed by its genus as a cactus or succulent

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Euphorbia cactus, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsEuphorbia cactus, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsEuphorbia cactus, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsEuphorbia cactus, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsEuphorbia cactus, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsEuphorbia cactus, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 12 photographs ›
Habitat figuresfrom few records
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
14.0°C
Record low 10.9 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
31°C
May, Jun and Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
202mm
2 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
31–45DLI
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 summers: the rain comes April to September and December, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

From few records: 7 records in 6 grid cells. The records.

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 “succulent subshrub or shrub”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (122 mm of 165 mm) falls in April to September and December, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 26.1 °C against a yearly mean of 25.3 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to March and June.

Rain

165 mm in the median year at the habitat, 122 mm of it April to September and December. Wettest month August at 34 mm, driest month February at 7 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 69 mm to 598 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 202 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 165 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: 31 to 45 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 30, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 14.0 °C, the absolute minimum 10.9 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 41.3 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 18.8 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 13.9 °C to 25.1 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 31.1 °C in June (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 14.0 °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: 57 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 -450 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 “succulent subshrub or shrub”. 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

From few records: this habitat climate is read from 7 records in 6 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Euphorbia cactus through the yearWarmest months May, June and July, mean daily high 31 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 18.8 °C; 165 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.0°10°20°30°40°50°41.3° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER10.9° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 31–45RH 57–63%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 6 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 °C24 / 22–2625 / 23–2627 / 25–2729 / 28–3031 / 29–3131 / 29–3231 / 26–3229 / 25–3229 / 26–3229 / 27–3128 / 25–2926 / 23–27
Night °C19 / 14–2520 / 15–2522 / 17–2624 / 19–2825 / 21–2925 / 22–3023 / 22–3122 / 21–3123 / 20–3124 / 17–3023 / 16–2821 / 14–26
Rain mm10 / 3–207 / 5–239 / 8–4413 / 8–6613 / 1–8912 / 0–4625 / 3–9334 / 6–16514 / 1–669 / 6–278 / 2–1111 / 5–14
DLI31 / 31–3535 / 35–3941 / 40–4345 / 43–4645 / 44–4542 / 39–4239 / 37–4138 / 36–4139 / 37–3938 / 37–4034 / 33–3731 / 30–34
RH %60 / 55–6258 / 57–6358 / 55–6460 / 53–6562 / 52–6562 / 50–6961 / 53–7062 / 58–7163 / 54–7059 / 53–6157 / 56–5959 / 55–62
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 6 grid cells holding the 7 in-range records, 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 1462:4675 (16.875, 53.775). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 10.9 °C, 1st-percentile night 14.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 41.3 °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 6 distinct grid cells holding 7 of the 7 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1462:4675 (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 17.00_53.750, lapse-corrected -450 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 64 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.
NativeEritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen · 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 marker16.897, 53.773 · in the densest population, 8 records (53% of those in range)
Kew's description“succulent subshrub or shrub” · “desert or dry shrubland” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 15 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 7 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 10 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. Under a dozen records behind the climate. 8 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 15 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 cactus, photograph 1did not loadEuphorbia cactus, photograph 2did not loadEuphorbia cactus, photograph 3did not loadEuphorbia cactus, photograph 4did not loadEuphorbia cactus, photograph 5did not loadEuphorbia cactus, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (6).

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

Commiphora gileadensis Commiphora gileadensis Mecca myrrh Photo: CC BY-SA, Krzysztof Ziarnek, KenraizCommiphora foliacea Commiphora foliacea Burseraceae Photo: CC BY, Morten RossEuphorbia hadramautica Euphorbia hadramautica Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY, Morten RossCyphostemma ternatum Cyphostemma ternatum Vitaceae Photo: CC BY, Morten RossCommiphora kua Commiphora kua Abyssinian myrrh Photo: CC BY, Morten Ross Desmidorchis flava Apocynaceae

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 cactus var. tortirama. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidata

The record

Family
Euphorbiaceae
Described by
Ehrenb. ex Boiss.
Native to
Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan +3
Wild records
15 in range · 10 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; 1 record within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (1 at a botanic garden or arboretum; 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 17.00_53.750, lapse-corrected -450 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist taxon inat.taxon not asked
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
Wikimedia Commons commons 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 7 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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