Holly-leaf four-pod spurge Holly-leaf four-pod spurge

Shrubs to 1.5 m. Leaves opposite, not clustered on short shoots; blade ovate to broadly elliptic, 15–30 × 7–20 mm, base obtuse, margins prominently serrate-dentate, apex acute to obtuse. Inflorescences: staminate congested paniclelike thyrses, 15–35 mm; pistillate flowers solitary. Pedicels: staminate essentially absent; pistillate 8–15 mm, tomentose. Staminate flowers: sepals 7–9; stamens 7–9, filaments villous basally. Pistillate flowers: sepals 8, in 2 series, greenish, 2.5–4 mm, sparsely tomentose abaxially, densely tomentose adaxially; pistil usually 4-carpellate, 3 mm, tomentose. Seeds (1–)2 per locule, glossy brownish red, elliptic-oblong, 4–5 mm, usually with one flattened radial surface, smooth; caruncle present.

Flowering May–Jun. Desert scrub on limestone outcrops; of conservation concern; 600–1900 m; Calif.

Tetracoccus ilicifolius is restricted to the mountains flanking Death Valley.