What kind of cactus is this? Is there any way to really tell what kind it is without having a lab, and maybe getting samples of the blossoms?
I wouldn't mind having a lab but it wouldn't help at all with identifying the plants. Its a monstrose Cereus jamacaru. Most monstrose forms don't bloom.
Looks nothing like Stapelia gigantea nor any other Stapeliad, vaguely or otherwise. Its still a monstrose form of Cereus jamacaru.
If you guys were cactus experts, how would you tell? Would you need to see it flower? Or maybe examine it under a microscope, or what? Just curious... ;)
Yeah, thats what I figured --- so, absent a bloom, I guess it's pretty well hit 'n miss, eh? The only hard and fast, for-sure method of ID'ing a cactus is by looking at it's blooms, but how often do they bloom? Not very ... That's interesting --- thnaks for the response, Lorax.
Man, you want to see blooming cacti? C'mon down! I have a friend in the country with 10 foot tall San Pedros that are almost constantly flowering; he's also got what we jokingly refer to as perpetual prickly pears, and pitahayas, and a bunch of cacti I only recognise as Opuntia and Cylindropuntia. Even his Epiphylums are blooming, it's been raining so much.
You're in Ecuador? Yeah, I'd love to, "come on down" --- I wish I had the airfare. If I did, I would. By the way, I just got a bunch of Peruvian Torch that I have high hopes for. ;)
