There are many spurge species that come in quirky shapes and sizes. Here are the Most Popular Types of Euphorbia Varieties you can grow!
If you want an ornamental plant that looks the part with succulent foliage and beautiful flowers, then have a look at the Most Popular Types of Euphorbia Varieties that will surely look spectacular in your garden!
Most Popular Types of Euphorbia Varieties
1. Poinsettia
Botanical Name: Euphorbia pulcherrima
USDA Zones: 10a-11 b
This small tree or shrub features upright succulent stems with beautiful blazing red leaves that look like flowers. It is one of the most beautiful houseplants that you can grow!
2. Desert Candle
Botanical Name: Euphorbia abyssinica
USDA Zones: 9b-11b
Desert Candle is a tree-like succulent with a thick green trunk that becomes woody with maturity. It grows flowers without petals having yellow bracts.
3. Pencil Cactus
Botanical Name: Euphorbia tirucalli
Hardiness Zone: 10-12
The cylindrical-shaped branches of this plant look a lot like a pencil. Though it is usually green, but keep it in full sun and it will take a fiery red hue!
4. African Milk Tree
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Botanical Name: Euphorbia trigona
Hardiness Zone: 9-11
You must have seen this plant in a lot of pictures and movies! It looks a lot like cactus, but is actually a succulent! And yes, it can grow up to an impressive height of 6-8 feet.
5. Dragon Bones Tree
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Botanical Name: Euphorbia lactea
USDA Zones: 10a-11b
This small shrub showcases upright green stems in cross-sections with a pale center. They have showy white and lime green patterns, with a couple of blackthorns.
6. Crown of Thorns
Botanical Name: Euphorbia milii
USDA Zones: 9-11
This evergreen bushy euphorbia is often grown as a houseplant. You can choose from different varieties with pink, red, or yellow blooms that flowers continually.
Check out our article on growing Crown of Thorns here
7. Wood Spurge
Botanical Name: Euphorbia amygdaloides
USDA Zones: 6-8
Wood spurge is an evergreen variety that blooms in yellow flowers from mid to late spring and grows up to 1-2 feet tall.
8. Donkey Tail Spurge
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Botanical Name: Euphorbia myrsinites
USDA Zones: 5-9
This creeping perennial can grow up to 1-2 feet tall and displays blue-gray leaves with yellow blooms. It looks great in compact pots.
9. Basketball Euphorbia
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Botanical Name: Euphorbia obesa
USDA Zones: 9-11
This small succulent has a ball-shaped round stem that slowly turns cylindrical with maturity. Commonly, you can see it as a houseplant.
10. Cushion Spurge
Botanical Name: Euphorbia polychroma
USDA Zones: 4-8
This clumping perennial features yellow blooms during spring – it can grow up to 1-3 feet tall. The foliage is very dense, which gives it a cushion-like look.
11. River Euphorbia
plantcaretoday
Botanical Name: Euphorbia triangularis
USDA Zones: 10a-11b
Also known as Chandelier Tree, this succulent has several cylindrical trunks with a crown of light green to yellow-green branches.
12. Pencil Milkbush
Botanical Name: Euphorbia mauritanica
USDA Zones: 9b-11b
Also popular as Golden Spurge, Yellow Milkbush, and Jackal’s Food, this shrub offers several upright, fleshy, pencil-like branches. It grows bright yellow blooms from winter to spring.
13. Debilispina
Botanical Name: Euphorbia debilispina
USDA Zones: 10a-11b
This spiny succulent shrub produces large, heavily branched clumps. The grey-green to blue-green stems display a red tinge in full sun.
14. Leafless Spurge
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Botanical Name: Euphorbia aphylla
USDA Zones: 9b-11b
It features leafless light gray-green, yellow-green, or blue-green stems that grow from a short trunk. Yellow flowers open in clusters year-round but primarily in spring and fall.
15. String of Stars
ongtongcoffeegarden
Botanical Name: Euphorbia guiengola
USDA Zones: 10b-11b
It’s a rare, spreading succulent that offers branched stems, small green leaves, and several white blooms with red centers. This deciduous plant flowers continuously during winter.
16. Red Monadenium
Botanical Name: Euphorbia neorubella
USDA Zones: 10a-11b
This variety features clusters of many small tubers. Dark green leaves with red undersides grow on the top of green stems, patterned in purple-green streaks.
17. Antique Spurge
Botanical Name: Euphorbia antiquorum
USDA Zones: 10a-11b
Antique Spurge is a small tree or shrub with smooth green branches, green leaves, and brown cylindrical stems. Clusters of cup-shaped yellow-green to pink blooms appear across the year.
18. Damask
Botanical Name: Euphorbia abdelkuri
USDA Zones: 9-11
This clumping succulent has spineless cylindrical, columnar candle-like green-gray to ash gray stems with ribs. It can grow up to 2-3 feet tall.
19. Vulcanorum
Botanical Name: Euphorbia vulcanorum
USDA Zones: 10a-11b
This succulent shrub has dense 4-5 angled green branches that grow up to 2-3 feet tall and 4-5 feet wide. It blooms in small, ornamental orange-red fiery flowers from spring and fall.
20. Baioensis
Botanical Name: Euphorbia baioensis
USDA Zones: 10b-11b
This small succulent has cylindrical, 1-2 feet long stems, branched from the base covered in spines with red tips that turn black with age. Small pale yellow blooms emerge from spring to summer.
21. Cliff Spurge
Botanical Name: Euphorbia misera
USDA Zones: 10a-11b
Cliff spurge has 3-4 feet upright branched stems with dull green and round hairy leaves. It flowers in spring with yellow or white blooms.
22. Indian Spurge Tree
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Botanical Name: Euphorbia neriifolia
USDA Zones: 10a-11b
This prickly succulent shrub grows up to 1-3 feet tall with thick stems, large green leaves, and grey-brown to black spines. Bell-shaped yellow-green and red blooms appear in spring.
23. Crown of Thorns
Botanical Name: Euphorbia geroldii
USDA Zones: 10a-11b
This beautiful semi-succulent shrub features glossy deep green leaves on a 2-3 feet tall plant. It constantly blooms in coral red flowers with yellow centers.
24. African Candelabra
Botanical Name: Euphorbia ammak
USDA Zones: 9-12
This tree-like plant can achieve an impressive height of 15-20 feet over time. The broad and obconical crowns are erect and have lanceolate leaves at the top.
25. False Globose Spurge
worldofsucculents
Botanical Name: Euphorbia pseudoglobosa
USDA Zones: 10b-11b
This dwarf spineless euphorbia creates a thick mat of divided globular green to grey-green stems with 5-6 ribs. It blooms in small, unisexual, yellow flowers at the tips.
26. Decaryi
Botanical Name: Euphorbia decaryi
USDA Zones: 10a-11b
It’s a small leafy, perennial shrub with zig-zag, wavy-edged foliage. This mat-forming plant grows up to 4-6 inches tall and blooms in yellow, red, or yellow-green flowers.
27. Caribbean Copper Plant
Botanical Name: Euphorbia cotinifolia
Hardiness Zones: 9a-11b
This tropical shrub has upright purple stems that bear fleshy copper-red leaves with a purple hue. Flowers appear in late spring to mid-summer.
28. Devil’s Backbone
Botanical Name: Euphorbia tithymaloides
Hardiness Zones: 9-11
It is quite a distinct plant with zig-zag stems and slightly ruffled leaves. The plant is a slow grower and gets 3-4 feet tall. It looks great in patterned small pots.
29. Snowbush
sagebud
Botanical Name: Euphorbia leucocephala
Hardiness Zone: 10-11
The appearance of the plant truly lives up to its name. It is an unusual shrub that blooms white flowers with a very pleasing sweet fragrance, too!
