Good morning all! I was given these cacti by a fellow enthusiast but he wasn't able to give me an id beyond suspecting the cereus family for the larger of the two plants. The larger has been in a low-light area until quite recently and has developed these long cyclindrical shoots with what appear to be roots. Now that it's in a sunnier spot a few of them seem to be flattening out? Could someone id these for me so I can figure out proper care and stop calling the big one "flying birds" plant ??? Also, in the second photo I'm looking for id on the plant in the foreground, not the euphorbia in the back. Many thanks : ) Rachel
The one on the left, Epiphyllum oxypetalum, is supposed to grow both long, cylindrical stems and broad, leaf-like ones. The other one, which most likely is a hybrid, should almost exclusively grow long, quite broad stems. Good light makes the stems grow broader and thicker and the whole plant stays compact and more stable. Epiphyllum belongs to the cactus family. Cereus is another genus in the cactus family, but they are large, spiny, columnar cacti, very different from these. The things that looks like roots are indeed roots.
This is interesting. Last time I had reason to check, Oxypetallum was still being classed with Selenicereus, or at least, that is what I believe I remember. We had a fair sized Selenicereus in the house I grew up in, which bloomed every summer and was something of a neighbourhood event every time it did so, though not an especially handsome plant, sad to say. Oxypetalum is much nicer looking when ot flowering, I have to say. After a quick check online, I found some sources class Oxypetalum as Epiphyllum, others still say it is part of Seleicereus. Does anyone have the latest classifications ? Most of the other epiphytic cactus night bloomers still appear to be classed with along with selenicereus. For example, Hylocereus undatus, which we've all seen as the green grafted stem under those small cactus sports that lack chlorophyll of their own, and are red or yellow. None of these coloured sport can survive without the green graft. But selenicereus and it's closest relatives are also epiphytes, not the heavy, ground dwelling collumnar types. Regardless of the latest proper botanical classification, they are interesting plants that can grow to quite a large size. They are great fun to watch once they set buds, as the buds grow long stems before they begin to swell, and can be a pain to wait for :-). Most tend to produce those aerial roots, which may be seeking moisture in the air or, I think more likely, are seeking some new anchoring spot on the 'tree', which is what they'd be growing on in habitat. Given something to grow into, they will do so and provide support for the stems they grew from.
Forgot to ask, how can you be so sure it is E. Oxypetallum when it is not showing a flower in bloom ?
Please give some examples. I have never seen oxypetalum classified as Selenicereus by a cactus botanist, not even in very old cactus literature. I have seen mislabeled plants (by amateur growers who don't specialize in cacti) on the Internet sometimes, but that is another story. It is the only cactus species with that shape, at least the only one common in cultivation.
I'll go see if I can find where I saw it listed as part of selenicereus.. it was on the net, but I didn't bookmark the page... I'll let you know if I can find it again. I surely do know that for all the great info there is on the net, there is also a lot of stuff that's not quite right, if not just plain wrong, and there is always the chance I may be remembering something I've read incorrectly. Thanks to sleep apnea and meds I have to take, at times my memory fails me.
