region. A highly variable species, that has a tuberous underground caudex. Its deciduous leaves are grey-green, often with soft, fine hair. The leaf shape is lanceolate-to-oblong. Below the leaves' stalks they become narrower. The leaf margins are wavy or crisped, and usually curved upwards. It is dioecious and its yellow-green 5mm flowers (cyathia) appear over the Winter, on short (1–5 cm), trailing peduncles.
Related species This species is closely related to
Euphorbia ecklonii, an
Overberg species, which has wider leathery leaves that lie flat on the ground. It is also closely related to
Euphorbia silenifolia, which however has slender, linear, grass-like leaves. A more gracile form of
Euphorbia tuberosa is sometimes treated as a separate species,
Euphorbia crispa (Haw.) Sweet, distinguished by its very narrow leaves, which also have more strongly wavy/crisped margins and a more prominent midrib. == Distribution and habitat ==