Euphorbia Species, Whitemargin Sandmat

I have seen this lovely little plant growing wild in Joshua Tree National park, in Anzo Borrego and other desert places. High desert, to...Read Moreo.

I'd hazard a guess that this wee beastie--which one could so easily overlook if not watching for it, it's THAT tiny--lives in zones 9 and up. I did a hunt on the USDA maps and got a possible 8b to 9a zone for the places I've seen this pretty little plant.

Small, LESS than one inch high, it grows FLAT, and the flowers are no more than five millimetres across (less than a quarter of an inch). I've never seen it taller than that, actually. It would be so easy to miss it if you didn't happen to be looking down like I was to save my ankles from nasty spines or ankle-breaking rocks underfoot. SUPER small and delicate-looking, but must be tough to live where it does. :-) I'd suggest listing it in groundcovers.

I was enchanted by this tiny species when I first realized what I was looking at and tried to take a photo of it with my camera and discovered how HARD that was with a regular macro lens. No detail. I actually had to swap out for my telephoto lens, then stood back a couple of feet. (Yeah, I'm an amateur. :-p) At least I got a nice image of them. I should probably post them.