Euphorbia pithyusa - Spurge

Euphorbia pithyusa, also known as Little Fir Spurge, with its fine imbricate foliage on reddish stems, resembles from afar a small round conifer with a pretty greyish-green colour. This evergreen Mediterranean species forms a beautiful bushy clump that has a stunning effect in a dry garden or in a mineral setting dominated by sober, prostrate, creeping, or cushion-shaped plants. The summer flowering is irregular in insufficiently sunny or too-humid climates. This is very bright at the end of the branch and in the form of small bouquets of acid-green flowers that turn a beautiful rusty colour as they fade. 

Euphorbia pithyusa belongs to the vast Euphorbiaceae family. It is a woody perennial endemic to the Mediterranean coast and native to France, where it grows in sandy soil and coastal rocks. Hardy in zone 8, this poor-soil euphorbia can withstand short frosts of around -11 °C (12.2 °F) in well-drained soil. This euphorbia develops into a bushy clump slowly reaching about 40 cm (16 in) in all directions. Its vegetation is dense and ramified, in the form of a large cushion. The young stems are green, and then turn cinnamon and orange-red while exfoliating at maturity. The evergreen leaves are succulent and arranged very densely in clusters all around the stems. Small in size, they are linear, tapering to a point, grey-green-blue in colour, and will be even lighter if the soil is dry. The flowers gathered in small umbels appear in June-July at the tips of the leaf-covered stems. They are petal-less flowers formed by lime-green bracts that turn orange over time. The stems and leaves contain a milky sap that is sticky and toxic.

The Little Fir Spurge, with its beautiful appearance and surprising visual design, will find its place in a dry and sunny rockery, on a wild slope in a large exotic bed, in a minimalist or contemporary-style garden, but always in well-drained soil. It is a good plant for coastal gardens. For example, it can be associated with blue grasses (Elymus magellanicus, Elijah Blue Blue Fescue), or blond grasses (Stipa tenuifolia), shrubby salvias with blue ('Blue Note'), orange flowers, or yellow and delicate blooms like some Baptisia. It also forms a lovely combination with the orange flowers of certain Agastache, or the cloudy blooms of Linaria. On a dry slope or in a rockery, it can accompany lavender, thyme, oregano, rockroses, and other rosemary varieties.