[3] A drought-deciduous shrub, it is typically found as a gnarled, straggly plant occupying seashore bluffs, hills and deserts.

Like other members of its genus, it has a milky sap, which can be found exuding out of the light gray bark when damaged.

The "flowers" (actually an inflorescence called a cyathium) can be found blooming year-round, and are colored maroon or yellow in the center with 5 white to light-yellow petal-like appendages attached outside.

The distinctive flower has a central nectar disc with a bright red appendage with scalloped edges and a light yellow fringe.

[6] The inflorescence is a cyathium, (a structure that looks similar to a traditional flower) with usually a single cyathia at a branch tip or sometimes in the distal axils.

The fruits are 4–5 millimetres (0.16–0.20 in) long, shaped spheric and lobed, and are densely puberulent or becoming glabrous (hairless).

Plants found on the San Benito Islands have sometimes been regarded as their own species, Euphorbia benedicta, based on their larger gland appendages and seeds.

[5] This species is found growing on rocky slopes and soils, vertical cliff faces, and coastal bluffs.