Species · genus Euphorbia · Euphorbiaceae

Fire On The Mountain

Euphorbia cyathophora Murray

Also known as: Dwarf Poinsettia · Painted Leaf · Painted Spurge · Painted-leaf Spurge · Paintedleaf

Growth habit

annual or biennial

Native range

Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Arkansas, Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Cayman Is., Chile North, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Florida, French Guiana, Georgia, Haiti, Honduras, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Jamaica, Kansas, Leeward Is., Louisiana, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nicaragua, Oklahoma, Panamá, Peru, Puerto Rico, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Trinidad-Tobago, Turks-Caicos Is., Utah, Venezuela, Virginia, Windward Is., Wisconsin

Euphorbia cyathophora — reference photo — Wolfbyron11 · CC0

Cultivars of E. cyathophora

The named forms growers keep — each with its own page, each honest about how much we know.

No named cultivars catalogued under E. cyathophora yet. When growers document a stable, named form, it earns its own page here.

Guide

The species-level account. Cultivar pages build on this and say where they differ.

A wild poinsettia relative

Euphorbia cyathophora is a member of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, in the same genus that gave us the Christmas poinsettia. Like its relatives, it carries milky sap and tiny flowers cupped inside colourful bracts rather than showy petals.

Source: RHS

From the Americas outward

This species is native across a broad stretch of the Americas, from the central United States down through Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and into northern Argentina. It behaves as an annual or biennial and is naturally at home in subtropical conditions. It has since been introduced well beyond that native range, turning up from Africa and the Canary Islands to parts of Asia and the Pacific islands.

Source: Kew

Cupped bracts, milky sap

As a Euphorbia, this plant's true flowers are small and unassuming, held within cup-like structures called cyathia that are surrounded by often colourful bracts. All parts exude the milky sap typical of the genus. It also carries a tangle of botanical history, having been classified at various times as a form or variety of Euphorbia heterophylla, and even placed in the separate genus Poinsettia.

Source: Kew

Care recipe

The species record — the baseline every cultivar inherits unless it says otherwise.

Care notes are early — not yet verified

Light: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Water: ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 7-12d)
Humidity: ai:claude-opus-4-8
Soil: ai:claude-fable-5
Care: ai:claude-fable-5

Light

Bright, indirect

Water

≈ every 12 days

Humidity

Medium

Temperature

13–29 °C

Soil mix

Loose, well-draining general potting mix

Propagation

Stem cuttings or self-sown seed

Fertilizing

Dilute balanced feed every few weeks while growing

Growth rate

Fast

Flowering

Scarlet-based bracts, a fire-on-the-mountain look

ToxicityAuthoritative · species

Toxic to cats & dogs & humans

Euphorbiaceae produce an irritant milky latex that can harm skin, eyes, and mucous membranes if contacted or ingested. This is where toxicity lives: every cultivar of this species inherits it and none can override it.

Reference images

Every image credited. Licenses link to their deeds.

Sources: ai:claude-opus-4-8 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (range 7-12d) · ai:claude-fable-5 · ai:claude-opus-4-8 (family inference)

Kept true by its growers

Every fact here carries its source. Grow Fire On The Mountain yourself? What you’ve observed — how it drinks, how it holds its color, a name that’s off — and a clear photo of your plant are exactly what keep this page honest. Contributions are reviewed before anything changes.