Euphorbia obesa is an endemic species, found in Kendrew, a small area of the great Karroo, the Northern Cape region of South Africa, in the Graaff-Reinet district
The plant grows in full sun or under the protection of low shrubs and sometime among low boulders in fairly sandy soils
The Euphorbia obesa is also known as Golf ball, is a highly succulent solitary plant without spines or leaves.
The plant is dioecious, which means that a subject has only male or female flowers. The small flowers are insignificant in apex
All euphorbias have a complex floral arrangement that is termed a cyathium (a cup) and this is the unit of the inflorescence.
Professor Peter Macowan (1830-1909), a botanist from Gill College in Somerset East, discovered Euphorbia obesa near Graaff-Reinet in 1897.
It does best in a gravely shale based soil, but is tolerant of a wide range of soil types.