Species Guide

Snail vine
Odds and Ends: Snail Vine, Sarcostemma, Silver Squill and More
Snail vine, Sarcostemma, Lenophyllum, silver squill, Espostoa and a rare Cuban cholla — quick guides to the odds and ends. Read more...
Pleiospilos nelii
Pleiospilos nelii – Split Rock
The split rock: a big, speckled stone plant with orange flowers that lives or dies by how you water it. Read more...
Dioscorea elephantipes
Dioscorea elephantipes – Elephant's Foot
Elephant's foot: a turtle-shell caudex that grows a vine in winter and sleeps all summer. Read more...
Stapelia
Stapelia – Starfish Flower
Starfish flowers: easy, fast succulents with enormous, strange, fly-pollinated blooms. Read more...
Euphorbia flanaganii
Euphorbia – Medusa's Head, Stellata, Susannae and Firestick
Medusa's head, star spurge, Suzanne's spurge and firestick: four African euphorbias and how to grow each. Read more...
Echinopsis oxygona
Echinopsis – Easter Lily, Domino and Torch Cactus
The flowering Echinopsis: Easter lily, domino and torch types with some of the biggest, showiest blooms a small pot can hold. Read more...
Echinofossulocactus crispatus
Echinofossulocactus – Brain Cactus
Brain cacti: little Mexican globes with a hundred wavy ribs and striped early-spring flowers. Read more...
Obregonia denegrii
Obregonia denegrii – Artichoke Cactus
The artichoke cactus: a slow, endangered Mexican rarity you can only own, legally, by growing it from seed. Read more...
Setiechinopsis mirabilis
Setiechinopsis mirabilis – Flower of Prayer
The flower of prayer: a tiny Argentine column with huge scented night flowers that set seed by themselves. Read more...
Notocactus leninghausii
Notocactus leninghausii – Golden Ball Cactus
The golden ball cactus: soft gold spines, lemon flowers, and about the most forgiving cactus you can grow from seed. Read more...
Harrisia martinii
Harrisia martinii – Moon Cactus
A fast, sprawling Argentine cactus with giant fragrant night flowers and red fruit — easy from seed. Read more...
Neobuxbaumia polylopha
Neobuxbaumia polylopha – Golden Saguaro
The golden saguaro: a many-ribbed Mexican column with bright gold spines, handsome from seedling to giant. Read more...
Stenocereus alamosensis
Stenocereus – Octopus Cactus and Mexican Fence Post
Two Mexican columnars: the sprawling, red-flowered octopus cactus and the tidy, slow fence post. Read more...
Cereus peruvianus
Cereus – Peruvian Apple Cactus and Monstrose Forbesii
The Peruvian apple cactus and its knobby monstrose cousin: fast, tough, night-flowering and fruit-bearing. Read more...
Cleistocactus strausii
Cleistocactus strausii – Silver Torch
Silver torch cacti: frosted white columns from the high Andes with closed red flowers made for hummingbirds. Read more...
Tephrocactus geometricus
Tephrocactus – Paper Spine and Pine Cone Cactus
Argentina's stacking-segment cacti: snowballs, pine cones and paper spines, slow and cold-hardy, and famously stubborn from seed. Read more...
Opuntia basilaris
Opuntia – Prickly Pear
Prickly pears: the most widespread cacti on Earth, fast from pads, edible, and anywhere from frost-tender to Canada-hardy. Read more...
Echinocereus rigidissimus rubrispinus
Echinocereus – Hedgehog Cactus
Hedgehog cacti: cold-hardy clumpers with some of the biggest, brightest flowers in the family. Read more...
Ferocactus wislizeni
Ferocactus – Barrel Cactus
Barrel cacti: heavily armed desert tanks with hooked spines, crowns of flowers, and fruit the wildlife loves. Read more...
Gymnocalycium
Gymnocalycium – Chin Cactus
Chin cacti: small, early-flowering South Americans that thrive in bright shade and on windowsills. Read more...
Pilosocereus azureus
Pilosocereus – Blue Torch and Tree Cacti
Fast, tree-forming tropical columns in powder blue and white wool — the showiest easy cacti you can grow from seed. Read more...
Melocactus matanzanus
Melocactus – Turk's Cap Cactus
Turk's cap cacti: tropical globes that stop growing to build a red woolly cap, then flower from it for life. Read more...
Ariocarpus fissuratus
Ariocarpus fissuratus – Living Rock
The living rock: a flat, fissured Texas native that takes a decade to flower and rewards the wait with magenta blooms. Read more...
Astrophytum capricorne
Astrophytum capricorne – Goat's Horn Cactus
The goat's horn cactus: curling papery spines, big yellow flowers with a red throat, and easy from seed. Read more...
Peanut cactus
Echinopsis chamaecereus – Peanut Cactus
The peanut cactus: tough, fast, cold-hardy, and buried in orange flowers every spring. Read more...
Myrtillocactus geometrizans
Myrtillocactus geometrizans – Blue Candle Cactus
The blue candle cactus: fast, tree-forming, edible berries, and the backbone of many grafted plants. Read more...
Ocotillo
Fouquieria splendens – Ocotillo
The desert's coachwhip: bare canes that leaf out after every rain and flame red for the hummingbirds each spring. Read more...
Euphorbia obesa
Euphorbia obesa – Baseball Plant
The baseball plant: a perfectly round South African succulent that's protected in the wild and easy from seed. Read more...
Lithops
Lithops – Living Stones
Living stones from southern Africa: easy from seed, and simple to grow once you learn their yearly rhythm. Read more...
Pachycereus pringlei
Pachycereus pringlei – Mexican Giant Cardon
The world's tallest cactus, and a much faster grower than the saguaro it resembles. Read more...
Astrophytum myriostigma
Astrophytum myriostigma – Bishop's Cap
The spineless, star-shaped Bishop's Cap: easy from seed, quick to flower, and the base of countless cultivars. Read more...
Monkey tail cactus
Hildewintera colademononis – Monkey Tail Cactus
A fast, furry, cliff-hanging cactus from Bolivia with red flowers — perfect for hanging baskets. Read more...
Golden barrel cactus
Echinocactus grusonii – Golden Barrel
The classic golden barrel: nearly gone from the wild, everywhere in cultivation, and one of the easiest cacti to grow from seed. Read more...
Giant saguaro
Carnegiea gigantea – Giant Saguaro
The icon of the Sonoran Desert: a slow, long-lived giant that's surprisingly easy to start from seed. Read more...