Euphorbia fulgens branches with orange flowering heads and narrow green leaves

Euphorbia fulgens (Scarlet Plume)

Native to Oaxaca in southwestern Mexico, it is a deciduous shrub with slender, arching branches and lance-shaped green leaves. It grows about three to five feet tall. Small flowering heads develop in clusters from the upper leaf axils, chiefly in winter. Each head contains tiny flowers in a cup-shaped structure called a cyathium. Yellow glands bear large, scarlet, petal-like appendages; white-flowered cultivars are also grown. The flowering stems are used as cut flowers. The species received the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit. The milky sap can irritate skin and eyes, and the plant is harmful if eaten. Photographed in Bogotá, Colombia.

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Euphorbia fulgens stem with white flowering heads and lance-shaped green leaves

Euphorbia fulgens shrub with scarlet flowering heads and narrow leaves

White Euphorbia fulgens flowering heads along a leafy green stem

Euphorbia fulgens branches with orange-red flowering heads and narrow leaves

Euphorbia fulgens white flowering heads with yellow centers and pointed green leaves

Euphorbia fulgens scarlet flowering heads along arching leafy branches

Scarlet Euphorbia fulgens flowering heads with small central flowers

White Euphorbia fulgens flowering heads and buds beside lance-shaped leaves

Euphorbia fulgens scarlet flowering heads with yellow centers

Euphorbia fulgens orange-red flowering heads and narrow green leaves

Euphorbia fulgens orange-red flowering heads along a leafy branch