Help with what I think is a succulent?

[harvest]

Hello! My name is Harvest and I'm an American living in London. I've grown up with lots of cacti (my mom is a huge fan) and I've recently acquired two plants. One is just a basic little thing, but the other one I'm completely stumped on. Don't even know if it's cactus or succulent, but I'm kind of assuming it's a succulent. Could I get some help please?

It's growing quite quickly, with lots of little bulbous things growing on the sides, with more soft spiky things coming out. And it's sprouting hair! That's what really confuses me. The tops of some of the stems are sprouting hairs. Help?

Thanks!

harvest

[iann]

Believe it or not, that's a cactus. Austrocylindropuntia subulata.

[greenknight]

Yep. Those "hairs" are spines.

[Saxicola]

It is completely understandable why you would think it is a succulent though. Usually one of the first things someone is told is that cacti have spines but don't have leaves while most succulents do. However, this species is one of the very few cacti that do make leaves (that stay attached for a while) and it would be hard to know the hairs are spines unless you are already familiar with cacti. Anyway, Ian is correct in his ID

[harvest]

Thanks everyone! Definitely hoping it doesn't actually grow as tall as they can grow! And good to know it's a hearty plant.

Thanks for the quick help identifying it!