This member of the Euphorbiaceae family was given this name by Michael George Gilbert in 1987. It is found in southern Ethiopia and eastern Uganda, growing in a rich but well drained soil with some water and some sun. The caudex can grow to four centimetres, the plant to 30 or even 70 centimetres in height. The flowers are yellow.

The genera name; Euphorbia dates back to the first century BC, where King Juba II of Mauritania used it in a reference to his doctor, Euphorbos, and that name was kept as a generic name by Carl von Linnaeus. The species name as it resembles Monadenium.