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Cacti & Succulents

New Cactus

17 years ago

Hello,I'm new here and I have a question for anyone who can help. I recently received a cactus as a gift however I wasnt told what specific type it was. Im sorry I dont have any pictures unfortunately all I can do is describe it for you,and hopefully someone here can help me with this dilema. Its,fairly smooth on the sides and triangular shape.spines are only on the corners of the triangle,from bottom to top.It has a redish pink bulb on top covered in spines.All in all it stands at about 3 inches tall as of right now.

I tried looking it up on here but I couldnt find any that looked like it,some similar but obvious diffrences. The closest i could find was a plant called "Echinocereus triglochidiatus"

Any help would be highly appreciated.

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Comments (2)

Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia • zone 7A
17 years ago
Sounds like a grafted cactus. Does it look like one of these?

If so, might be Gymnocalycium Mihanovichii grafted on another cactus rootstock.
treehaus
17 years ago
Dan land,

If your cactus does look like one of the above, the lower, green, triangularly-shaped portion you're talking about is grafting stock almost certainly from Hylocereus undatus. Hylocereus undatus is a climbing, vine-like cactus that produces a large, beautiful blossoms. Those blossoms turn into large, beautiful fruits called Dragonfruit (or Pitaya). It is not know exactly where this cactus comes from, but it is believed to have originally come from the Caribbean or South America. It is cultivated in California, Israel, Vietnam and elsewhere for its fruit. It's nothing like the citrus industry, as you might imagine, but I think it's a somewhat lucrative fruit to grow. Hylocereus undatus can grow to be about 200' long under the right conditions.
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