Actually in the genus, the cultivar Pereskia aculeata 'Godseffiana' is
rather attractive with its peach colored leaves and a popular house plant.

http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/fa01/fa01087.jpg


I really wasn't referring to the most primitive genus Pereskia in the
Cactaceae but rather to such shrubby genera as Leptocereus and Acanthocereus
being ancestral to the better known succulent types.


Iris Cohen wrote in message
...
I don't agree with your assessment of the Cactaceae. The most
primitive
genera are of woody shrubby species that gave rise to various genera of
vining,
epiphytic and thick stemmed globose to columnar desert types. The
primitive
genera are rarely grown by succulent plant hobbyists but they are of the
most
interest to taxonomists.

I grew a Pereskia once out of curiosity. Not a very attractive houseplant.
However, it was interesting to see the various traits, like thorns &
areoles,
and compare them with the same traits on advanced Cactaceae.

Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming
train."
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)