ID please

dargis · Post by **dargis** » Wed Sep 08, 2010 1:08 am

I bought this cactus in Union Square and over the summer I have watched it grow a little over an inch. I searched unsuccessfully for what kind of cactus it is. I was hoping someone would be able to help me out with this.

GermanStar · Post by **GermanStar** » Wed Sep 08, 2010 1:55 am

Those are some wicked thorns. Doesn't look much like a cactus from here. Looks like some manner of Euphorbia.

dargis · Post by **dargis** » Wed Sep 08, 2010 2:52 am

I was beginning to doubt it was a cactus for that reason. I've searched through various Euphorbia images and it does bear some resemblance...

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Wed Sep 08, 2010 3:45 am

Deffinatly a euphorbia,
Have a look at this site
http://www.euphorbia.de/jacobsen.htm
Click on the key and start in the O's

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Wed Sep 08, 2010 7:59 am

loooks just like one of mine - with no label. But I have wondered about E grandidens. no flower yet. Mike

dargis · Post by **dargis** » Thu Sep 09, 2010 12:33 am

Thanks for the help, Tony the website was very helpful I think I have narrowed it down to a couple possible matches. Mike, would you mind posting a picture of your Euphorbia?

lancer99 · Post by **lancer99** » Mon Sep 13, 2010 11:51 pm

Mike, with apologies, I'm pretty sure that's not E. grandidens.

Dargis, do you have a closeup pic of the spines? That would help a lot with the ID.

Thx,
-R

Tetrazole · Post by **Tetrazole** » Wed Sep 15, 2010 4:23 pm

How about Euphorbia sekukuniensis? For comparison, I have posted a photo of my young E. seukuniensis plant below.

dargis · Post by **dargis** » Thu Sep 16, 2010 12:56 am

Lancer99 here are a couple of close ups I hope this will suffice and thanks for the help, I appreciate it.

Tetrazole, your euphorbia is very similar to mine, the new growth at the top looks similar to (the way that it sprouts).

Hari · Post by **Hari** » Thu Sep 30, 2010 3:08 am

If you have doubts about it not being a Euphorbia you should make a small nick with a knife somewhere on the stem. If you see the white sap oozing out you can be 99% sure that it is a Euphorbia.

jmzako · Post by **jmzako** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 12:00 am

I'm thinking Euphorbia trigona

lancer99 · Post by **lancer99** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 3:44 am

jmzako, I'm sure it's not E. trigona, which has a different growth pattern.

I think it's E. evansii. That's based on a number of factors: acuteness of the angles (ribs)(E. grandidens usually has chunkier stems), the length of the spines (E. grandidens' are usually shorter), and mottling on the stems, which are slightly twisted (both typical of E. evansii but not E. grandidens). The spine shields of E. grandidens also usually have an extra pair of prickles (miniature spines) and I don't see any in the pics (maybe it's just my bad eyes though!)

The reason I don't think it's E. sekukuniensis is that that species' spine shields very quickly grow together and become continuous, and I would think the plant pictured is large enough to show that characteristic.

I've gone on at length because my confidence level isn't very high -- all three species are very similar, and it could turn out to be any one of them. But E. evansii seems the most likely candidate, both from my reference books and pictures on euphorbia.de and aridlands.com.

-R