About Euphorbia melanadenia Torr. & A.Gray
Euphorbia melanadenia is a species of Euphorbia with the common name red-gland spurge. It is native to deserts and mountains in Baja California, southern California, and Arizona, growing in dry, rocky habitats. This perennial herb grows as a small clump or mat made up of very slender, tangling red stems. Pairs of slightly woolly, oval-shaped leaves 2 to 9 millimeters wide grow along these stems. Its tiny inflorescence is a cyathium less than 2 millimeters wide. This cyathium is a bell-shaped arrangement of white, scalloped petal-like appendages that surround the plant's actual flowers. Each appendage has a shiny red nectar gland at its base. At the center of the appendages, a ring of male staminate flowers surrounds a single female flower. The female flower develops into an oval-shaped fruit that holds wrinkled white seeds.
