Euphorbia tannensis is a species of herb or shrub native to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and some Pacific islands

Pacific Islands

The Pacific Islands comprise 20,000 to 30,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. The islands are also sometimes collectively called Oceania, although Oceania is sometimes defined as also including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago....

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Description

It grows as an erect annual or perennial herb or shrub, from 10 centimetres to a metre in height, with green or yellow flowers. It often appears spindly due to its leaves being deciduous.

Taxonomy

This species was first published by Curt Polycarp Joachim Sprengel in 1809, based on a specimen collected by Georg Forster

Georg Forster

Johann Georg Adam Forster was a German naturalist, ethnologist, travel writer, journalist, and revolutionary. At an early age, he accompanied his father on several scientific expeditions, including James Cook's second voyage to the Pacific...

 in . In 1977 two species, E. eremophila and E. finlaysonii, were submerged within E. tannensis as E. tannensis var. eremophila

Euphorbia tannensis var. eremophila

Euphorbia tannensis var. eremophila is the more widespread variety of E. tannensis subsp. eremophila .-Description:...

 and E. tannensis var. finlaysonii

Euphorbia tannensis var. finlaysonii

Euphorbia tannensis var. finlaysonii is a variety of desert herb native to Australia.-Description:It grows as an erect shrub, usually up to a metre in height, but sometimes up to 1.5 metres, with green or yellow flowers. From a distance it may appear leafless. It is distinguished from the other...

 respectively, these being treated as varieties of a new subspecies, E. tannensis subsp. eremophila

Euphorbia tannensis var. eremophila

Euphorbia tannensis var. eremophila is the more widespread variety of E. tannensis subsp. eremophila .-Description:...

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Distribution and habitat

This species is widespread on the Australian mainland, occurring in every mainland state, though only in the far north-west corner of Victoria (Australia)

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

. It is widely reported as occurring only in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

; yet the type specimen was collected on Tanna in what is now Vanuatu

Vanuatu

Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...

, and it has also been recorded in New Caledonia

New Caledonia

New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...

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