No there are no native Aussie cacti, I'm sorry, but there are some born-and-bred Aus succulents (though I don't know which!).

There was a posting something like this on here a few months ago, so perhaps someone else will pipe up with some good information who was involved in that discussion then.

Actually now that I think of it quite a few people seem to assume that the prickly pear (Opuntia) species found throughout outback Queensland are native, purely because they are so prolific and widespread. They are in fact a noxious weed, and there have been several measures taken against them in the past to prevent further spread. I think one of these measures was something to do with the introduction of a moth or some other bug?

Ah well, nevermind, I've started to ramble now.. time for some more coffee, methinks!

Lis :)

Cacti are native to the Americas and surrounding islands.

Now I will ramble a bit. I think Columbus took a cactus back to Europe with him and they had never seen such plants.

There are many places they were planted and have gone rampant, including Australia and the Mediterranean, but they all came from the Americas.

Australia is not a continent where succulents have diversified greatly, compared to Africa and the Americas. We have a few representatives of a few succulent families, e.g.

Aizoaceae: Carpobrotus - 4 native species, only slightly different from some of the S African and S American species; Sarcozona - 2 species, genus endemic, rather similar to Carpobrotus; Disphyma - 1 species, also in NZ and S Africa. There are other slightly less succulent native species in genera like Tetragonia (6 native), Gunniopsis (endemic, 14 spp.), Trianthema (11 native).

Portulacaeae: Many spp. of Calandrinia, now treated by some botanists as genus Parakeelya. These are quite succulent and have colourful flowers but are mostly annual and so seem to be disowned by succulent fanciers. Also 1 native Anacampseros sp.

Euphorbiaceae: a few Euphorbia spp. with succulent stems, e.g. E. plumerioides (also in Asia), E. stevenii, E. tannensis.

Asclepiadaceae: Sarcostemma - 3 native spp., true stem-succulents with twining or scrambling stems. But why not Hoya (7 native) and Dischidia (4 native)? - they have quite succulent leaves.

Chenopodiaceae: now here are a lot of succulent species, in genera such as Maireana, Sclerolaena, Enchylaena, Sarcocornia, Halosarcia, Tecticornia, Sclerostegia, Pachycornia, Suaeda, Salsola. But they tend to be either leaf succulents with dry twiggy stems, or saltmarsh plants and have no appeal to succulent fanciers.

Rubiaceae: why aren't the ant plants Myrmecodia (3 native) and Hydnophytum (1 native) regarded as succulents? They look pretty succulent to me.

And finally, there are a whole lot of plants in various families that have large perennial tubers. If we went by the current fashion of growing these exposed to the air, we could add quite a few Australian 'succulents'. Like a Dahlia is a succulent?

And then there are the monocots - Doryanthes? Bulbine? Borya? Xanthorrhoea even? (no less succulent than some Agave or Yucca spp.)

What is a succulent?

Wow, I didn't realise we had so many, Tony, thanks for all that info. As for that last question, I've often wondered that myself, as sometimes the lines seem a little blurred, but it was brought up this week on the main forum..
Lis :)

Here is a link that might be useful: What makes a succulent a succulent?

Thanks for that link Lis, yes it's very interesting. One criterion often used is, as they point out, the CAM photosynthetic pathway whereby the plant is able to take in its atmospheric carbon in the cool of the night and store it in a loosely bound form for later photosynthesis during the heat of the day, with stomates closed. This is the case with nearly all leaf and stem succulents (including many orchids, bromeliads, etc!) but I doubt that it applies to a lot of the tubers. I liked the one about the turnip being exhibited! Just like my example of Dahlia.

I also came across a web page (see link below) showing that there are Australian C&S enthusiasts keen to recruit more of our native plants with underground storage organs to the ranks of succulents. This could be carried to absurd lengths, e.g. mallee eucalypts with their huge lignotubers.

I think in the C&S world (which I merely dabble in, not a bona fide member), a succulent can be defined as: any plant that appeals to a succulent grower!

Here is a link that might be useful: Australian Subterranean Succulent Flora

I believe not all cacti are restricted to the americas
Rhipsalis found its way long ago in prehistory to madagascar and so could be argued as a native element of the flora (much the same situation as the dingo in australia)

I read with interest Tony's post. Extremely well done and very up to date. My guess is he a professional botanist. He has acess to so much information for someone who only dabbles in C&S???? Incidentally the tuberous Rubiaceae are generally accepted as succulent. These fascinating plants use the Cam pathway and indeed may even be facultative C3-CAM users. Recent NSW & Qld C & S Soc journals have excellent articles on this subject. Didge

Here is a link that might be useful: Qld C & S Soc

For those interested in Oz succulents, a Google (or whatever) search using the genus names in Tony's list will give much more information and lead on to interesting new events in the world of OZ succlents. Didge