This member of the Euphorbiaceae family was described by Ferdinand Albin Pax in 1897. It is found in south-eastern Sudan, southern Ethiopia, Somalia, and northern Kenya, growing in a well drained soil with little to some water and lots of sun. The stem can grow to four centimetres in diameter, the whole plant to ten centimetres height. The flowers are white.  

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 is named after Domenico Riva, 1856-1895, an Italian explorer and naturalist.