Resin spurge

Value to bees

Nectar

High

Pollen

Moderate

As a honey crop

Major honey crop — yields a surplus in good years

Which bees, and why

Worked heavily by honey bees during the spring flowering. The plant's latex is severely irritant, so handling the vegetation is hazardous in a way that working the bees is not.

Worth knowing

A good spring nectar source on ground that offers very little else.

Flowering

In flower

March to May (northern hemisphere)

A short spring flow on the Atlas slopes.

When nectar flows

Substantial where stands are extensive. Beekeepers move hives to the euphorbia slopes for the flowering.

Year-to-year variation

Small and localised, and the plant's restricted range caps production regardless of demand.

What it does to the honey

Contributes a genuine burning pepperiness at the back of the throat, building for some seconds after swallowing, over a warm caramel base most tasters never reach.

Growing it

Conditions

Full sun, sharp drainage, and complete protection from winter wet. It is a succulent and rots readily in damp cold conditions.

Size

Mounds to 60 cm tall and several metres across.

Native range

The slopes of the Moroccan High and Middle Atlas, and endemic to a limited area.

Suits

Containers and window boxes, Small gardens

• Grown as a container succulent in temperate climates and kept dry in winter.
• Handle with gloves and eye protection — the latex causes severe skin and eye injury.
• Slow-growing and long-lived.

What it looks like

A leafless succulent forming dense mounds of stiff four-angled grey-green stems with paired spines, carrying small yellow flowers along the ridges in spring.