Painted Leaf Spurge
Euphorbia cyathophora
Family: Apocynaceae
Usually a weedy, warm-season annual. Growing usually about a foot high, and spreading a few feet wide. Related to the true poinsettia. The actual flowers are small and green, but surrounded by red demarcations in the leaves.
Full sun to shade (looks best in part sun). Regular to moderate water (well-watered plants look better and live longer). Usually dies with the frost though they can be protected.
Photo by Sue Carnahan, SEINET
Euphorbia cyathophora on iNaturalist
Used by pollinators. Desert tortoises love to eat these. Larval host for the Obscure Sphinx Erinnyis obscura
This species is often confused with Euphorbia heterophylla, a similar, related plant that usually lacks the reddish coloring. Euphorbia is named for Euphorbus, Greek physician of Juba II, King of Mauretania. The species name, cyathophora, is from two Greek words for 'cup-bearer' and refer to the cup-shaped base of the flower containing the glands. Euphorbia is one of the most diverse species in the world with 2,105 species.
Found in dry sites; 2,500-5,000 ft in all of eastern US, from South Dakota to New York, south to Florida, west to California (throughout Arizona); south to southern Mexico and in South America; introduce in Africa, Australia, and Asia.