Chamaesyce fendleri

This is a small mat or clump forming reddish-green plant with a crooked, creeping, hairless stem. The leaves are rounded, oval, or spade-shaped, smooth along the edges and generally coming to a point, and not much more than one centimeter in maximum length. One flower-like structure (cyathium) is produced from each leaf node. The tiny inflorescence is a cyathium with white-edged, scalloped appendages surrounding the actual flowers. There is a ring of 25 to 35 staminate flowers around one pistillate flower. The ovary of the pistillate flower enlarges into a lobed fruit about 2 millimeters long. This plant is often pollinated by ants as you can see in the photo. Ant pollination (myrmecophily) occurs more often with flowers that are low growing and inconspicuous.