Euphorbia prolifera - Pine Spurge

Pine Spurge is herb, erect or rising up, 20-30 cm tall. Roots are round, 10-20 × 0.5-2 cm, few branched. Stems are many, branched basally, about 3 mm thick. Leaves are alternate; stipules absent; leaf-stalk absent; leaf blade linear-rounded, 2-4 cm x 3-5 mm, base narrowed or nearly flat, tip blunt; lateral veins basal, inprominent. Primary involucral leaves are 4-6, ovate-oblong to broadly ovate-oblong, 1.5-2.5 x 0.6-1.2 cm, tip rounded or pointed. Leaves below the inflorescence are 2, ovate, 1-1.5 x 0.8-1 cm, base rounded or flat, tip pointed or rounded. Cyathium is stalkless; involucre broadly bell-shaped, about 3.5 x 3-5 mm, lobes lacerate or triangular, some hairy on margin and inside; glands 4, brown, subcrescent, tip 2-horned. Male flowers are many, slightly protruding from involucre. Female flower: ovary flower-stalk up to 5 mm; styles fused below middle; style arms slightly 2-lobed. Fruiting flower-cluster-stalk is up to 8 mm; capsule ovoid-spherical, about 4.5 x 5.5 mm. Pine Spurge is found in Valleys, sloping grasslands, pine forests, in the Himalayas, from Kumaun, Nepal tp SW China, at altitudes of 500-2300 m. Flowering: April-August.