Euphorbia royleana Boiss.

Small trees or shrubs, 5-7 m tall, glabrous except for cyathia. Stems 4-7 cm thick, green, 5-7-angled, many branching from upper parts; ribs with rounded teeth/tubercles. Leaves alternate, apically clustered; stipules pricklelike, spines paired, 3-5 mm; petiole absent; leaf blade oblanceolate to spoon-shaped, 5-15 × 1-4 cm, slightly succulent, base attenuate, margin entire, apex obtuse or subtruncate; veins inconspicuous. Cyathia in subterminal cymes, yellow, peduncle ca. 5 mm; cyathophylls as long as involucre, membranous; involucre ca. 2.5 × 2.5 mm; glands 5, transversely elliptic, dark yellow. Capsule 3-lobed, 1-1.2 × 1-1.5 cm, smooth and glabrous. Seeds 3-3.5 × 2.5-3 mm, brown, adaxially striate; caruncle absent. Fl. and fr. May-Jul.

It is a temperate plant. In Nepal the plants grow to about 2800 m altitude.

Caution: All Euphorbias or spurges have irritating sap and many have chemicals that can cause cancer. The tender stem is peeled and the pith boiled and pickled.

It can be grown from stem cuttings. It is grown as a hedge plant.