EUPHORBIA MLANJEANA

This member of the Euphorbia family was given this name by Leslie Charles Leach in 1973. It is found in the crater of Mt. Mulanje in Malawi and recently discovered in nearby Mozambique. It is growing in granite gravel and other well drained soil with some water and lots of sun. The caudex can grow to tvelwe centimetres in diameter, the entire plant from 15 to 100 centimetres in height. The flowers are bright yellow.

The genera name; Euphorbia dates back to the first century BC, where King Juba II of Mauritania used it in a reference to his doctor, Euphorbos, and that name was kept as a generic name by Carl von Linnaeus. The species name after the Mlanje Mountain of Nyasaland. This Euphorbia is growing with the caudex naturally exposed. Photo of wild plants by Joachim Thiede.