Euphorbia nubica N.E. Br.
E. consobrina N.E. Br.
Ara.: Yoab.
Shrub, monoecious, glabrous, 0.4-1.5 m in height (it can reach up to 2(5) m when climbing), with very slender stems (0.5-1 cm) erect to expanded, cylindrical or slightly fusiform, rounded in cross section, highly branched from the base, with prominent calluses, from succulent (when young) to woody (when old), also with brownish scars left by fallen leaves. Leaves small (5-25 × 2.5 mm), alternate, sessile, linear-lanceolate, without stipules, caducous. Pleiochasium with 2-5 rays and bracts (3 × 3 mm), oval or lanceolate, sessile and semipermanent. Cyathium subsessile and 5.5-6.5 mm in diameter, with 4-5 separate nectaries, 2 mm wide, yellow which turn red. Ovary glabrous, with 2 styles (2.5 mm long) and bifid stigmas. Fruit a capsule (4.5 × 5.5 mm), exserted, on a recurved pedicel 3-5 mm, with noticeable cocci. Seeds (2.5 × 2 mm) ovoid, finely tuberculate and yellowish-brown. Caruncula 0.5mm
Flowering:
March to June.
Fruiting:
May to July.
Habitat:
Rocky hillsides and sandy soils, in open thickets and shrubland.
Distribution:
East Africa (from Kenya and Uganda to Egypt), also present in the Arabian Peninsula. Its presence in North Africa is confined to the coastal areas of the Red Sea of Sudan and Egypt.
Observations:
Although there are some characters that it shares with other cactiform species of the genus, it is not directly related to them because it belongs to the section Helioscopia, subgenus Essula, therefore being more closely related to E. regis-jubae.
Conservation status:
Rare but widely distributed species, not considered threatened. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In the updated red list of Egypt (Shaltout & Bedair, 2023) it has been considered as Endangered (EN).