Euphorbia regis-jubae

Euphorbia regis-jubae is a shrub, up to 2 m (7 ft) tall. It has light brown stems and terminal rosettes of leaves that are narrow and oblong, with a pointed or somewhat blunt apex. The inflorescences are pedunculate, umbel-like, usually simple with five to eight rays, more rarely compound. The greenish-yellow floral bracts are large, not joined at the base, and persist when the fruit has formed. The fruit capsules are light brown or red. The seeds have a stalked elaiosome (caruncle).[3][2]

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  Inflorescence
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  Fruit

Euphorbia regis-jubae was first described by Jaques Étienne Gay in 1847.[1] It has been treated as a subspecies of other Canary Island euphorbias under the names E. obtusifolia subsp. regis-jubae and E. lamarckii subsp. regis-jubae.[1]

E. regis-jubae has regularly been misidentified. The illegitimate name Euphorbia obtusifolia Poir. has been used "indiscriminately" for two species found in the Canary Islands: the eastern E. regis-jubae, and the western E. lamarckii. In 2003, David Bramwell listed seven publications from 1847 to 1993 that gave the wrong names or the wrong distributions for these two species.[4]

Euphorbia regis-jubae is native to the eastern Canary Islands – Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, western Morocco and north-western Western Sahara.[1] Its distribution differs from that of E. lamarckii, with which it has often been confused; E. lamarckii is found in the western Canary Islands – Tenerife, north-western La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro.[5]