mountain cactus

[gehcole]

I would be grateful if anyone could identify this cactus

IMG_0582 (Small).JPG (69.65 KiB) Viewed 1081 times

. It seems to be from the Mexican mountain range.

[Saxicola]

It is a Euphorbia, not a cactus and isn't native to Mexico. They do escape from cultivation and can become naturalized, which may be why you thought it came from there. It is similar to Euphorbia trigona but I'm not certain of the ID.

[gehcole]

Thanks. As a matter of fact I live in Mexico and bought 3 of these really cheap: less than 6 euros each. Talking to some workmen, they told me that this cactus was very common in the "wild" (they use the word "monte" which is not exactly mountain).

[rrozzi]

Try lactea or candelabra

[Saxicola]

I don't doubt you at all that it may grow in the wild in Mexico. I'm just saying it isn't native to there as it comes from Africa. Plants escaping from cultivation is a common problem throughout the world.

[DaveW]

The reverse situation also occurs. Cacti are native to the two Americas and adjacent islands, apart from one Rhipsalis in Africa which nobody is sure how it got there. However they are widespread in warmer countries in Europe brought back by early colonists, particularly the Spanish from S. America, but many people in Europe and even Africa now seem to think they were always native plants. Also there are some Opuntia's often known as "Mission Cactus" that were grown for fruit by the early missionaries and were moved around the America's as they set up new missions far from their original habitat, O. ficus-indica is one I believe?

Even things like rabbits most in the UK think are natives were in fact introduced by the Romans for meat:-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... abbit.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Australians will never forgive us for introducing rabbits there!

Many Americans think of horses as native animals, but they had died out 10,000 years ago in the America's before Europeans again reintroduced them:-

"Horses were originally indigenous to North America and found their way to the Old World by walking over the Beringia land bridge. Then around 10,000 years ago, horses disappeared from North and South America. It is not completely known why they disappeared. It wasn't until the sixteenth century when the Spanish brought horses over on their boats that North and South America once again saw horses."

I believe when the Inca's first saw the Spanish Conquistadors on horses they thought they were riding big dogs, due to horses having long muzzles like dogs.

Just think, if Europeans hadn't brought horses back the cowboys would have had to walk or ride Bison (also wrongly called Buffalo in the USA)

http://www.livescience.com/32115-bison- ... rence.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[greenknight]

O. ficus-indica was already widespread in cultivation by the Native Americans when the Spaniards arrived. Although the best evidence indicates it originated in central Mexico, Columbus found the natives of Hispaniola growing it, and it's believed that he brought it back with him on his first return to Lisbon in 1493: http://www.amjbot.org/content/91/11/1915.full" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;