Thanks to all for identifying my cactus especially Thneen free Lorax who nailed my Austrocylindropuntia subulata. I'm not very up on the names for plants (never took Latin) but when I see something I like I neeed to know more. My neighbour has a Cactus in the corner of her section which is about 4m/12' high and flowers profusely a couple of times a year (see picture). She gave me a cutting which is now 2 years old and this summer has grown two new little branches (see picture). Can someone please name this one for us. Thanks.
Something like this one. The lack of prominent spines is probably significant, likely a familiar garden form - which I think I have seen. http://images.google.com/images?q=c...US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi
You can't name the plant because you never took Latin? That's a good one. As if a language class is going to help you ID plants. :-) That's the plant the dopers call "San Pedro". None of them apparently took Latin either. http://www.sanpedro.co.uk/bloom.html Its Echinopsis (Trichocereus) pachanoi. The nearly spineless stems and hairs on the flower tube are indeed significant for IDing this plant. Its definitely not the so called "Cereus peruvianus", which happens to be an invalid name anyway. There are a number of different Cereus species that pass under that name in the horticultural trade. Note that Cereus lack any hairs on the floral tube or fruit and the stems usually have more acute ribs. Saguaro grow much much bigger, Cactus Jack.
I hope so. I have six saguaros in my house. Unfortunately, they're only about eighteen months old, and the biggest of them is about an inch high including spines. I'm 42, so at this rate of growth, I doubt I'll ever see them standing thirty feet tall and weighing a couple of hundred tons. Probably a good thing -- at the age I'll be then, re-potting them would be a serious problem! Not to mention finding a window ledge big enough to put them on! ;-)
That's definitely San Pedro. Unlike your opuntias, you shouldn't eat it, not even the fruits which will look very tempting. Let the bats take care of it for you; you can't kill that one. (I'm quite serious about the terminator-type nature of these cacti; they're quasi-illegal to grow in several provinces here and I've tried to take them out of my gardens on numerous occasions with absolutely no luck. If you miss even a microscopic chunk of root, they will be back.)
Ron is referring to Echinopsis (Trichocereus) peruviana not "Cereus peruvianus". Those are completely different taxa and not the same at all. Echinopsis pachanoi may actually be a nearly spineless cultivar of Echinopsis peruviana rather than a distinct species.
Thankyou all. No bats over here. I live in a back section so hopefully no druggies can spot my cutting from the road. Any problems regarding that and it's coming out. Every microscopic scrapulet!
Was assuming plant formerly included in C. peruvianus, an epithet which you appear to be saying is a synonym of more than one species, had been moved into Echinopsis to make the new (at the time) combination Echinopsis peruviana.
No Ron, "Cereus peruvianus" is not synonymous with other species in the trade. The name is completely invalid but has been misapplied to plants in the trade. Not the same at all. The name Cereus peruvianus was originally based upon a Prelinnean drawing of a columnar cactus stem without flowers. The name cannot be assigned to any known species with certainty since most Cactus genera are recognized on the basis floral characteristics. It is at best a "Nomen Confusum" and should not be applied to any known species. Echinopsis (Trichocereus) peruviana was named independently of "Cereus peruvianus" by Britton & Rose for a completely different plant altogether and is not at all synonymous. The same species epithets are often used for completely unrelated species in different genera by botanists describing new species. So much for today's botany lesson.
Spurious names are still referred to as synonyms. Cererus peruvianus hort. (or however it is being fashioned) would still be a synonym of all the species it has been used for.
Actually you are referring to misapplied names not botanical synonyms in the strict sense. Cereus peruvianus sensu auct. non L. (1753) The real chore is trying to track down who was the first author to misapply the name and which authors later misapplied it to other species. Since it was probably in horticultural publications (and plant catalogs) not botanical ones, it can become difficult. If you were aware of the actual synonymy of the species involved, you would never have assumed they were based on the same basionym.
I wasn't talking about in the strict sense. And I did say I had made an assumption, didn't I? You pretty much lost me with the "botany lesson" comment, have continued talking down since.