Hello all,

I am a new member. recently I bought a Cactus which I don't know its type could you help me to identify its type?

You can see the photos of it in the attachment.

:-)

Red_Core said:Hello all,

I am a new member. recently I bought a Cactus which I don't know its type could you help me to identify its type?

You can see the photos of it in the attachment.

:-)

Well... you bought a Euphorbia(aka spurge) and NOT a cactus. A cactus imitator if you will. Latex sap(often white), different spines, no areoles, tiny but weird flowers etc etc/
As for species you have Euphorbia horrida. or perhaps polygona, they are similar...

Oooo. Congrats! That's on my "buy it if you see it" list.

skopjecollection said:

Well... you bought a Euphorbia(aka spurge) and NOT a cactus. A cactus imitator if you will. Latex sap(often white), different spines, no areoles, tiny but weird flowers etc etc/
As for species you have Euphorbia horrida. or perhaps polygona, they are similar...

Hello and thank you for the identification of this plant. I did not know it is not a cactus! However, it is a cactus imitator as u mentioned and I like it. I would like to ask you how can we say it is not a cactus because to me it looks very much a cactus!

It doesn't have aeroles,
Aeroles are something only cacti have, but euphorbia don't have.

Honestly , I don't really remember what aeroles did ….

hlutzow said:Oooo. Congrats! That's on my "buy it if you see it" list.

Hello, and thank you for your reply but it is already identified as Euphorbia horrida thanks to skopjecollection

sedumzz said:It doesn't have aeroles,
Aeroles are something only cacti have, but euphorbia don't have.

Honestly , I don't really remember what aeroles did ….

So, Cacties have areolas? and how areolas could be identified? because u know the plant I bought it is very similar to Cactus. I could not tell the difference!

Red_Core said:

So, Cacties have areolas? and how areolas could be identified? because u know the plant I bought it is very similar to Cactus. I could not tell the difference!

Not "areolas" , those are the areas surrounding the human nipples , but AREOLES
Fuzz covered , circular or oval areas found on cacti, usually on its ribs , or on/near tubercules, and if not on the surface. Always come from a growth centre/apex(densest there)



(even epiphytic cacti have them even though they arent as apparent)


Spines and glochids come from them, and usually flowers/fruits and branches out of special ..substructures on them.
Exceptions include gernera with double areole(mammillaria, coryphantha, escobaria etc) and those with fruiting structures-cephalium/pseudocephalium like melocactus.
Whereas everything else doesnt have these structures, they are almost* exclusive to cacti(the almost part being Trichodiadema, but the areoles are in appearance only)
NOT areoles- leaf and thorn group on Euphorbia trigona, thorn group on Pachypodium, leaf fallen off , growth buds/spike on Stapelia(now Ceropegia), leaf vestige -Senecio/Kleinia









These may serve similar functions(growth bud, flowering) but do not have the same physiology as areoles

They are usually where spines will appear from. Usually they have some fuzzy stuff in them. On some species, it can be where leaves will grow. Euphorbias don't have spines, but have thorns.

I am digging all these illustrations.

The spines on cacti are actually modified leaves, not that one would know from looking at them. The spines on the Euphorbia in the original post are actually sterile peduncles (flower stalks without the flowers) which harden and persist. The most obvious clue there is how they have little nodes with primordial leaflets along the way, these are clearly visible in the original photo. Some other Euphorbias have stipular spines, which are the (usually paired) short spines that appear at the base of a leaf (like the trigona and Pachypodium pictured above).

Botanical details aside, you should expect this plant to require the maximum possible amount of light to do well in an indoor situation. The more, the better. The closer to the window, the better. This will favor the most compact growth and the brightest blue color.

skopjecollection said:
Not "areolas" , those are the areas surrounding the human nipples , but AREOLES

Sorry!

Thank you for your explanation

Baja_Costero said:I am digging all these illustrations.

The spines on cacti are actually modified leaves, not that one would know from looking at them. The spines on the Euphorbia in the original post are actually sterile peduncles (flower stalks without the flowers) which harden and persist. The most obvious clue there is how they have little nodes with primordial leaflets along the way, these are clearly visible in the original photo. Some other Euphorbias have stipular spines, which are the (usually paired) short spines that appear at the base of a leaf (like the trigona and Pachypodium pictured above).

Botanical details aside, you should expect this plant to require the maximum possible amount of light to do well in an indoor situation. The more, the better. The closer to the window, the better. This will favor the most compact growth and the brightest blue color.

Woooow! thank you for the info!

skopjecollection, Baja_Costero, and Aeonium2003

Thank you guys, However, I would like to throw few more questions at you.

1- Do we have Cactuses with wooden body? I mean a type of wood that could be used for making tools.
2- Do we have poisonous Cactuses? ( I just heard Ergots are narcutic)
3- Do we have Cactuses with milk (I mean milky sap or latex?)

A very sci-fi question: 4- Could we interbreed cactuses? and create new types of cactuses?

To answer your questions:

1. Yes but I'm not sure woody enough to build something. Definitely woody enough to hold themselves up.
2. Not in the sense you are thinking. Some will make you numb if you stab yourself and some will make you hallucinate. None will kill you outright.
3. No
4. Yes, cactuses interbreed all the time, sometimes naturally and sometimes with a little help.

This is a photo of my Euphorbia horrida. Its quite a bit older than yours - 40+ years. It started like yours, grew the 5 medium barrels within a few years and just in the last 5, has added all these new ones.


Its ok to not know everything immediately - it has taken us years to gain the knowledge we have.

BTW, the accepted name is Euphorbia polygona var. horrida.

One thing on question 4 though. Not all cacti can interbreed. It's the compatibility. For example, I could cross an Aporocactus with an epiphyllum, and get an Aporophyllum. This is because they are closely related, and compatible. If I tried Aporocactus with Ferocactus, it would not work. Because they aren't closely related, and not compatible.

DaisyI said:To answer your questions:

1. Yes but I'm not sure woody enough to build something. Definitely woody enough to hold themselves up.
2. Not in the sense you are thinking. Some will make you numb if you stab yourself and some will make you hallucinate. None will kill you outright.
3. No
4. Yes, cactuses interbreed all the time, sometimes naturally and sometimes with a little help.

This is a photo of my Euphorbia horrida. Its quite a bit older than yours - 40+ years. It started like yours, grew the 5 medium barrels within a few years and just in the last 5, has added all these new ones.


Its ok to not know everything immediately - it has taken us years to gain the knowledge we have.


BTW, the accepted name is Euphorbia polygona var. horrida.

3. Actually yes. Not latex though, but some mammillaria species do have milky white sap

Aeonium2003 said: One thing on question 4 though. Not all cacti can interbreed. It's the compatibility. For example, I could cross an Aporocactus with an epiphyllum, and get an Aporophyllum. This is because they are closely related, and compatible. If I tried Aporocactus with Ferocactus, it would not work. Because they aren't closely related, and not compatible.

Oh, Ok Thank you for the info

DaisyI said:To answer your questions:

1. Yes but I'm not sure woody enough to build something. Definitely woody enough to hold themselves up.
2. Not in the sense you are thinking. Some will make you numb if you stab yourself and some will make you hallucinate. None will kill you outright.
3. No
4. Yes, cactuses interbreed all the time, sometimes naturally and sometimes with a little help.

This is a photo of my Euphorbia horrida. Its quite a bit older than yours - 40+ years. It started like yours, grew the 5 medium barrels within a few years and just in the last 5, has added all these new ones.


Its ok to not know everything immediately - it has taken us years to gain the knowledge we have.

BTW, the accepted name is Euphorbia polygona var. horrida.

What Cactuses cause hallucinations? What causes numbness?
Now I know Euphorbia Horrida is not a cactus and I learned it has milk and the milk is poisonous (But what poison?) and a question is it somakable? like the milk drawn from poppy pods?

skopjecollection said:

Hello, what type of cactus is shown in the above picture?

And 2 questions:

1- I have a Pachypodium as well (here the sellers don't even know their names, and google image search may not be so helpful that is one of the reasons I joined this forum) How can I have it barrel-like?

2- What Cactuses are fast growing?

To answer your first question...it belongs to the genus Pereskia, a primitive mostly unmodified early offshoot of cactaceae . A non succulent cactus if you will...
The second is not that simple... more light helps but also species dependent. Pachypodium has some variability after all. The most common type though , lamerei is tree shaped...
And third... depends on conditions. In average( no greenhouse, temperate climate) like mine, it has to be cereus, some species of opuntia , epiphyllym and myrtillocactus, maybe cylindropuntia..