Your experience with aquatics does not help at all for identifying
xerophytic plants, Moonbeam.

Opuntia compressa is an invalid name, often misapplied to Opuntia humifusa
but is actually a synonym of Opuntia ficus-indica. In any case, Opuntia
humifusa is a prostrate grower not upright.

Most certainly it is not a hybrid.

Cannot identify species unless it is properly grown and in flower.


"Moontanman" wrote in message
...

My wife and I acquired a fairly curious cactus about two or three
years ago and it has been getting more and more "curious" as time goes
on. It's strange to me as I've never seen anything like it. It's very,
very thin and keeps growing upwards as opposed to outwards. The thorns
on it are more like tiny little, hairy bristles. And every so often
from the base to the tip it seems to get a oddly placed 'bulge'. It
also appears to grow in sections (I think this may be typical of
cacti, but I'm not sure), with the spring section appear much brighter
in coloration than the older sections.

It's about a foot tall now (perhaps an inch over). I have a picture of
it here -

http://my.mindvision.com/~ben/general/cactus.jpg

If someone could lend me some assistance in identifying what in the
world this thing is it would be most appreciated. We live in Nebraska
and it was given to us by some people we knew at the time as a gift
(they spotted it growing in their garden area completely unannounced).

Thanks in advance,

I think it is almost certinly a species of Opuntia, possibly a hybrid or a
plant distrorted by light levels less than optimal. Possibly O. compressa,
Opuntias can vary greatly in form due to environmental conditions. I found
a
specimen growing at the bottom of a pipe standing in an abandoned gas
station
that looked like no other species i had ever seen but when given idea
conditions it turned out to be a species common to my area.

Moon
I breed dwarf crayfish for planted aquariums and grow trees in aquariums.
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