Little carpeting plant

[RB]

Not sure I ever saw something like this before, but I guess very easy to overlook, esp when in the company of other greenery.

The single plant formed a patch around 75cm diameter, it was completely flat on the ground (supine?).

Any ideas?

[jackpot]

possibly Euphorbia prostrata

[jackpot]

...this red flowering variety is var. colaflora

[RB]

OK OK now that's overdoing it

Yup, that is almost certainly it, I checked out the hi-res pics and compared with some online pics and it's definitely E.p. else some other very closely related E. sp.

The difficulty is that my pics are not so good.

Thanks!

What's the status here, common?

RB

[robcar]

Probably not common in the countryside but rather common in our streets

[RB]

Mela bil Malti nghidula Euphorbia q***a

RB

[MWP admin]

LOL! Its common at Marsa and Gzira probably

Common in pavements and soil used for trees in pavements.
It is/was also called Euphorbia chamaesyce and seems E. prostrata is a group of closely related species (aggregate).

I have reported a Eu[horbia chamaesyce in the forum with large leaves and looked a bit different from the normal ones, hence could be something different but still in the group (i.e. senso lato). Haslam mentions a certain E. cham. subsp. massilliensis (DC) Thell.

[jackpot]

I have learned that the var. colaflora is endemic to Malta!

[IL-PINE]

Well and to show that it is an endemic variety, if you cut the stem instead of the white substance, a black fizzy substance will come out!

[jackpot]

exactly!