This is my first post, I've been reading this forum with great interest and I really hope somebody can help. I have attached (I hope I did this right) two pictures of a succulent (cactus?) that a friend gave me a cutting of about a month ago. It's the tall spire in the center, does anybody know what this is? It doesn't have any spines and seems to have a slightly delicate skin (when handled it seems to bruise easily). I'm not certain how to take care of it although so far it's looking really good in the pot with the other little cuttings. Also, if you know what it is, is this one of them that has toxic milk? My friend also gave me a cutting of the African Milk (Tree?) and she didn't realize the milk was toxic! She took a cutting from her plant with a kitchen knife so I called her as soon as I realized what it was and told her not to use that knife before she washes it really good, if at all. Thank you all in advance! I'm looking forward to sharing more soon, can we send photos of our cactus' in bloom too? I have a few, although I don't know all of the proper names for them yet.
It looks like a pot of cacti (Family Cactaceae) though I don't know what the centre one is. Your African Milk Tree (Euphorbia trigona) is in a different family (Euphorbiaceae). Euphorbias do produce milky sap that can be more or less toxic (depending on which species) when ingested, affect people with latex allergies, and act as a skin irritant (as I found out trimming my Donkey Tail Spurge) Simon
Thanks Simon, do you think maybe the tall one in the middle might be a species of Euphorbia? It's not really a cactus I don't believe, it's not like the others in the nursery pot, it hasn't any spines and it's more of a succulent type plant. I had found a website with some cactus species named alphabetically about a year ago, anybody know what site I am talking about? If I could find that site, maybe I could go through the Euphorbias and find this one. I'm going to try Googling Euphorbia, that might work. Thanks again all. Farelle
My botany vocabulary is limited so my technical description of why I think it's a cactus and not a Euphorbia is limited to "it doesn't look like one". I got this out of internet literature "Only the family Cactaceae, however, bears structures called "areoles" which enclose the buds" & "Many plants (such as Euphorbiaceae, Rosaceae, Punicaceae, etc.) produce spines, but no other plants bear areoles." I can't see enough detail in your photos to see areoles or not. There are also differences in bud location on the stem....yours looks more like cactus, not Euphorbia Try nicking it, Euphorbia will have milky sap, Cactaceae will not. Looking through Euphorbia species photos will take some time as there are more than (I believe) a thousand species. Simon
I found it! It turns out that it is a Euphorbia after all! Specifically a Euphorbia Aphylla or Leafless Spurge. When I sat down to look at the list it only took a minute to find it. Yay! Thankfully too as there are thousands of euphorbia species, lol. Thanks for the help, if you hadn't mentioned that the African Milk Tree was a euphorbia, I wouldn't have thought to look there. Looks like it will reside in the house over the winter months. Thanks again, Farelle
