August 16th 2026
Weather: 88°F ☀️
Euphorbia patula ssp. wilmaniae (Marloth) Bruyns
I received a batch of Euphorbia planiceps in the past year. I had not known at the time, but this species was reclassified by Bruyns as Euphorbia patula ssp. wilmaniae. This species is a small sub-shrub from South Africa with medusoid-like arms, but more tuberculate. The cyathial glands are white with finger-like appendages and showy orange pollen. Not many species have orange pollen. Another such species would be Euphorbia horwoodii. I potted eight of E. patula ssp. wilmaniae in a community basket, all of which have grown quite stout and wide. I held back a few from teh community pot. Some of the older growth is a bit etiolated, which I'll likely cut back as the plant grows out a bit more. I decided to pull out one of the E. patula ssp. wilmaniae to inspect the wonderfully developed root system and put it into a staging pot for future show.
Euphorbia sp. nova aff. similiramea
Several years ago, I want to say in 2022 or 2023 without checking my data, I received a single plant of what was labeled as Euphorbia sp. nova aff. actinoclada, an undescribed Kenyan species which grows as a small caudex forming, three-spined pseudo-medusoid. More recently, I've seen this same species offerred as Euphorbia sp. nova aff. similramea instead. Whatever the undescribed name is, it's one of my favorite Euphorbia speciments in my collection.
It's flowered year over year, though I've had difficulty acquiring much seed off of it in previous growing seasons. I imagine the self-fertility can vary across flowering, potentially hormone related. I've been able to grow a handful or two of seedlings year over year. My primary parent plant has finally grown large enough to produce enough cyathia, along with my other seedlings, to acquire a great load of seed this year. I've already sown a batch or so of seed, and just collected around three-hundred or so seed today. I'm super excited to actually be able to grow enough of this species to help distribute it to others.
Euphorbia pachypodioides Boiteau
Earlier this year I acquired ten Euphorbia pachypodioides, a usually single stemmed Madagascan species that can get quite chunky along with its umbrella forming leaves and red cyathia sitting atop very long peduncles. These plants flowered prolifically after I established them, producing over one thousand seeds! I sowed nearly all of the seed across two propagation trays, five-hundred seeds each. The seedlings have germinated quite nicely. I haven't done a count, but I believe the germination rate is somewhere around sixty to seventy percent. So many E. pachypodioides seedlings to play with!
