What cactus is this?

[Cosmonaut]

I have a few rough ideas after searching through the gallery, but these have seen some neglect and a positive ID would be nice. :-)

http://imgur.com/a/9PCVY

Thanks in advance!

[Stillman]

cereus of some sort

[Cosmonaut]

Peruvianus, perhaps....? :-)

[Stillman]

peruvianus is a generic name, so yes. But if you ask Evil Genius the Mod he will most likely help you out, sometimes flowers are necessary for exact identification got any pics of it blooming?

[Cosmonaut]

Unfortunately, no. It is growing in the garden of an abandoned house. Thanks for your help, by the way.

[Evil Genius]

Will have a closer look at it later today, Cosmonaut. I think i know what it is.

[Stillman]

No problems. basically you could classify this plant as C. peruvianus however EG will probably have a better idea he'll see this thread sooner or later.

[Stillman]

there lol see^^

[Evil Genius]

Ok heres the thing. Cereus Nomenclature is a mess. Cereus Peruvianus is not an accepted species within the Genus Cereus anymore because there were some critical errors made by the people who described it. Cereus Validus is a highly messed up species as well.

This could be Cereus Jamacaru (if the spines are yellow or brown). However, i can hardly see any spines so i think it is Cereus Hildmannianus or Cereus Repandus. To get a full ID, better pics would be needed, including flower pics.

[Cosmonaut]

Thanks heaps! For the record, there are very small spines (a few mm), but I think, after a Google image search for those two species, you are correct.

[mutant]

whatever people tell you, most Cereus, as well as otehr columnars and cacti, are hard~impossible to ID without flowers.

I have tried to ID a local Cereus with no spines or very short ones, its very common here. I came up with a couple possible name candidates I dont remember. Hildmannianus, hmmmm, that might be it!

From what I have seen going around as C. jamacaru, this is definately not it, but I could be wrong, or the names might be a mess , as EG says.

In any case, this must be the commonest ID question ever.

Oh, and a nice Bougainvillea too!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bougainvillea

[Cosmonaut]

Cheers guys. The reason I ask is I reckon this house is going to be bulldozed soon, so if this cactus is worth saving, I might nick a couple of cuttings. Sounds like it might be a goer..... :-)

[Stillman]

I am growing a heap of cereus out here to, they do really well in my climate they flower all the time and apparently the fruit is pretty good to eat if your not keen on growing out the seeds etc.

Edited May 10, 2012 by Stillman