Here are a few sightings in the desert green house at the Missouri Botanical Gardens.
Here is a skinny spiny worm-like cacti. They are fairly small and it seems like when the branches break off they start a new plant. Eventually the surrounding ground gets covered by them.
Their name is Commiphora and they are from Eastern Africa. I may have seen some of these for sale at Home Depot before lol as my wife likes collecting succulents then due to our humid weather killing them.
Look at this punk rocker hairstyle. I pity the bird the lands on this thing not knowing there are some sharper spines beneath the hair.
These are quite tall, and it seems that only the tallest ones form a hairdoo.
They are Espostoa from Bolivia. I would imagine people in a desert climate could easily grow these in their yards similar to how people in Arizona have saguaros in their yards.
Now for a green brain with protective spines and spiraling thoughts.
I'm not sure of the name because these silver tags are so hard to read. There are a couple Latin names of Nofossulocactus and Covallatun.
This little guy seemed to be growing on its own unplanned in a crevice inside the building. It appears to be a Stapelia I think they are from South Africa. We once bought one and hoped it would bloom but it never did due to our humid environment.
Am I a cactus, succulent or leafy green plant? This one kind of seems like a chimera of a cucumber, pineapple and spinach.
This sign was next to it, they just give the overall family it belongs to called Euphorbia.
These little guys look quite familiar, I've seen them at various big box stores for sale.
Looks like it is Euphorbia Hakallensis.
Now for a blooming cacti with a nice fuzzy looking red color.
This is a Melocactus from Cuba that is endangered. Maybe they only grow in a small portion of the island.
I wish I could angle my camera to get this guy's name but they faced it towards the other side of the walkway. I'll call it the brainworm cactus lol. Very thick and twisty with lots of spines. Imagine having to walk through a field of these guys.
I have a few better documented cacti and succulents on my phone somewhere, more soon...
Thanks for looking :-)
They are such interesting shapes; I love them all.
Quite a huge variety to withstand the harshness of the desert and to keep things from eating them.
Thanks again @ewkaw :-)
Nice cacti shots. Those little metal dog tags are annoying lol I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it but I went to Wash U in St Louis. Been to Shaws Garden several times.
Interesting I wonder when they just relabeled it from Shaw's Garden to the more generic St. Louis Botanical Garden? Each time I go there I find something new, been there three times and discovered new nooks and crannies every time.
I think its just the old name that some of the locals still use. My wife had some family in the area and I think her grandma took her there the first time when she first came to St Louis for college. Then we used to go there to get away from campus.
Hmm, someone got the commiphora label very wrong, that's a genus of trees. I'd say that's a Euphorbia species.
Your stapeliad is probably Orbea variegata and the one below it is Monadenium, now classified under Euphorbia. They are also called Snake plants
Ah yeah I bet there was a taller tree behind the cacti lol. I wish their little metal tags were more legible and many of the things there weren't even labeled leaving one guessing. It seems quite a few are from South Africa.
The Commiphora is probably the stem that's visible in the background of the second picture and yep, SA is the home of many of these plans since the west of the country is semi desert. Those little metal tags aren't great - I can't easily identify your last cactus because it's crested, meaning that the growth point was damaged so it's growing wildly like that but it's probably a Mammillaria
You know @nikv, the one I loved and had never seen among the brain species is the last one.
I don't have it in my collection. So beautiful 😊!!
I still like the lady finger brain the most
Of that species, I do have, and the white one too. It's raining today, but when I go up to the garden, I'll show you mine @nikv.
It looks really nice, my friend, and it goes perfectly with the pot 👌 hahaha..
Yes please! The pot is a bit obvious but it's still fun. I like seeing medusoid Euphorbia in head pots too
You should take the opportunity to invisibly snip off a small growth and grow it at home. I have been to Gothenburg's botanical garden many times and I always bring something with me. I have spread cuttings of a succulent that I took over 30 years ago throughout my city.
Wow!! What a beautiful botanical garden of cacti and succulents @sketch.and.jam 🤩, you know, you have a species from my country in the pictures - the Matanzanus, it's the smallest melocactus from the island of Cuba 🇨🇺.
Here, a fan and collector of cacti. You know, the one I had never seen in your posts is the last one, the brain cactus. I have several here in my garden, but I had never seen that type.
Everything is very beautiful, thanks for sharing, and have a lovely Sunday!! 😊🤗🙏🏻