I found this plant at a local nursery in upstate NY and the woman had no idea what it is. I liked the weird look of it though and brought it home and looked up some pictures online of medusa type euphorbias I thought it might be. I potted it in a soily/perlite mix and watered it once and a few days later some of the arms started to yellow. I unpotted it again after reading online that it might be due to overwatering, and potted it in pure pumice/perlite with some gravel top dressing and didn't water. The yellow arms (probably 4-5 of them) all dried up in the sun and fell off and it's stayed green until a few days ago when I noticed more arms turning yellow. I still haven't watered it in a week and a half, and it's been in a sunny spot in a warm room with temps between 70-75 F.

Does anyone know why the arms might be yellowing or what kind of plant this is? I'm not sure if it wants more water/less water or more light possibly?

Any ideas would be appreciated, here are a couple pictures of it's current state, you can see the older shriveled yellow'd arms still along with new ones. It's in a four inch pot which is the size it came in (diff pot, I used a clean one). The soil it was in at the greenhouse was very peat-y and wet, so I'm wondering if it's supposed to be in a wetter mix too even though I've never read that-

Cute plant! I don't know what it is (besides Euphorbia) and I don't know way some branches are dying. In my experience, the Euphorbia with lots of arms do some arm shedding periodically.

Thanks Daisy

I have no idea why it's losing arms (but still growing more fresh green ones) either.

I repotted it today though into pure perlite/water for my semi-hydro experiment though so I will see how it does and try to remember to update with results.

I'm guessing it wants water but I don't know exactly. We'll see!

There's a bunch of medusoid Euphorbias and I only have experience with a dozen or so different ones around here. I do not know what to call your plant but it stands out as being incredibly willing to generate new "heads" compared to the more common ones that I know.

Depending on the plant they may grow more or less arms, as a matter of genetic preference, and also as a consequence of growing conditions. Underpotted medusas tend to grow narrower caudices, with more vertical growth instead, and fewer arms. When given a chance to stretch out (within limits) they will have a fuller set of arms, and those arms will grow wider and persist longer on each head. To some extent dropping arms is a reaction to drought or other stress as well. In your case it could be a consequence of the plant's preference to sprout new heads (the arms that don't do this might just be getting squeezed out as the head count goes up).

Identification of these plants involves looking at the flower and I would imagine you'll have an easier time with ID as your plant grows up.

I would imagine that you'd have to be attentive with the watering if you grow one of these in pure grit, so as not to let it dry out for too long in between, at root level. I keep my medusas in my usual mix of 50% pumice, 50% organic and they seem to enjoy that.

I have nothing to add but some of my euphorbias shed their pups that come from underground when i accidentally remove the soil covering them and they get sunburned badly. Another euphorbia shed some pups when i uprooted it. Hope this helps

Thanks Baja and Cactiguy

I'll keep watch over it the next couple of weeks in my semi hydro setup.

I have never seen one with so many "heads" either. I always wanted to get a Medusa type online and then saw this and figured it must be sort of related. It's roots were pretty much dried out when I repotted it.

Hopefully the water and heat helps it kick back to healthier state.

Keep us posted as changes develop... I see real potential with your plant.

If you do go looking for another medusa, the easiest and most common is E. flanaganii, which offsets at a moderate pace.



And these two medusas are on the larger side for the group, and relatively easy to grow to full size.

Darn, I have enough cacti and succulents, but now I need those 3, Baja! They grow into such beautiful plants.

Me too. Ever since Baja started showing photos of his I've been wanted to grow some. Now, that he's posted photos again, I'll have to research where to find them in this area.

Same here, Deebie. I resisted when the first photos were posted. Now I can't resist. I have to find them. Let me know if you find a good place to purchase them.

Baja, thanks so much I'll keep an eye out for flower type too.

Those photos are beautiful, I love these Medusa types but haven't decided which to actually settle for and purchase (before this random find)

I have trouble deciding on any euphorbias to buy. I love the look of them all, but I'm a flower guy(this doesn't count poissonii which I love the weird white trunk of). My favorite I've discovered so far is Globosa with the intricate strange alien flowers. Do you know what Medusa type might have the strangest flowers?

This reminds me, I still need to find a globosa too. So many plants, so little space

Arid Land Greenhouse has quite a few listed. My problem with shopping there is they have quite a few listed.

Yes, you can find quite a few at Arid Lands, along with lots of plants I'd consider a stretch to call medusas (all arm, no head).

E. globosa is a very nice plant. Of the medusa flowers I like E. caput-medusae, astrophora (now decepta), and ramiglans. We only have photos for one in the database, I'll have to look through my archives to see if I can find the others.



There are also quite a few random hybrid medusas out there, either fertile or sterile, but the 3 I listed in the previous post are all self-fertile in my experience.

Awesome flower Baja.

It reminds me of my astrophora's flowers which are really tiny. I have an astrophora, and a suppressa, but only the astrophora has flowered.

Are most Medusa types very small plants usually? How large is your biggest one? I don't know why but I always imagined them as being bigger plants from online images I've seen. But they all seem to be for smaller pots (4 inches or so)

They're all really strange and beautiful. I have to find some more.
Here are some photos, difficult to get a good photo of

The largest medusas I have (esculenta, inermis, flanaganii) are over a foot wide. E. caput-medusae is another hefty plant. There are medium size plants (like gorgonis and a couple noIDs) which work in 6-8 inch pots.

E. astrophora and decepta (proper) are both really choice medusas on the smaller end. Dial the light up all the way if you can to keep them compact. I have seedling offspring from astrophora which are under 4 inches, and will probably never need a pot bigger than that. One is sterile (never has flowered) so I believe it is a hybrid, and the other made flowers quite unlike the parent, so I know it is a hybrid. The world of medusas is littered with hybrids



E. ramiglans is another one on the smaller side (5-6 inch pot) if size is an issue for you.



A couple of interesting noIDs here in the medium size range. The first has never flowered; the second is self fertile.

Baja, interesting. I'll keep the lights on them so they don't grow too much vertically (hopefully). I like how the supressa and astrophora look like turtle shells or something with their weird indentations and skin.

I'll look into some of the larger ones too. I have room, I just don't NEED anymore plants at the moment ;)

Have to make sure I'm confident in how I'm growing the ones I have.

I like the flower on the second image you just posted. That's a ramiglans?

Yes.

A couple of extra large medusas at the San Diego bot garden here.... somewhat the worse for wear, but bigger than anything on this thread so far.

Wow, awesome. They look like underwater plants when they grow out like that.

I wonder what that nice red plant is to the right of the second one. I'm trying to get into more colorful succulents and cacti but don't know many.

It is an aloe. Check out these options for aloe with intense stress colors (also featured elsewhere in the thread).

https://garden.org/thread/view...

I don't think you will see any colors even remotely close to what's in the pictures if you grow the plants indoors, though. A good starting one for a container would be A. dorotheae, which is well behaved and relatively small. There are also a number of small bumpy hybrids with excellent coloration, again depending on stress for activation.

Compare these two pictures of the same bumpy aloe indoors and outdoors to get an idea of what I mean about color.

Baja, thanks for the Aloe tips. I want to try growing more of those, along with gasteria's that have strange coloring, but I think I killed the one gasteria I ever tried. It got black spots all over it, but I don't think it's normal coloration.

Anyways, I thought I'd update you on this euphorbia. It's been in the semi hydro setup for about a week now and not only hasn't developed anymore yellow arm, but it's turned a different green color and burst with lots of little arms.