Ghana – Chapter 18, Part 2

Accra, February 5, 2006

"A Digression on Succulents, of Which Cacti and Euphorbia are Two"

So far, I have about 30+ plants in this little patch.  Sylvanus spent a lot of time going through the books I got on tropical plants and managed to identify some of them.  Thanks to some kind people on the Internet at the Univ. of British Columbia plant identification forum, I have managed to identify most of the rest (at least I think I have). 

Some other web sites I found useful for plant identification were:

► The botanical photo gallery of Andrea Lohmueller & Friedrich A. Lohmueller  (click on the photo for a group and it takes you to a more detailed page for that group).

► CactiGuide.com (more than you probably ever wanted to know, but useful if you're interested in these plants)

► Sukkulente Euphorbien (home page is in German, but everything else is bilingual German/English).  Photo page is here

1.  This I have identified as Sansevieria trifasciata laurentii - aka snake plant.

2.  This one is almost definitely agave angustifolia

3.  A little peperomia?  Actually, peperomia is a family.  I don't know which variety this is.  Maybe once it blooms, I'll know.  But in researching this one, I discovered that they don't like bright sun, they're a rain forest plant.  So I had Sylvanus replant it in the shade.

Are you having fun yet?  I certainly am enjoying it.

4.  This sansevieria pearsonii is related to #1 above, except that its leaves are hard round spears (you can see #1 in the background).

5.  This one has me stumped.  I think it's a euphorbia ingens, but some of the euphorbia are really hard to identify.

6.  This one, I'm also not a 100% sure about.  It looks like a opuntia paraguayensis, The one on the left is in my garden.  The one on the right is in a botanical garden on the Internet (and therefore I presume is correctly identified as opuntia paraguayensis)

Is the one on the left the same as the one on the right??  (Ignore the red flower - that's on a plant behind this one).

7. & 8.  Looks easy, right?  Well here are two more euphorbia that no one seems to be able to identify.  A free goat to the person who can figure them out.

Any ideas????

9.  Here's another cactus-looking one which I think is a Cereus peruvianus (aka C. repandus). I also found it somewhat similar to the C. jamacaru.  According to the CactiGuide online, you simply can't identify some of these until they flower!

10.  Here's another one of those bloody euphorbia.  I think it's a euphorbia antiquorum.  What do you think?

11. And here's the last one... euphorbia tirucalli, which is also called milk bush because when you break the stems a white sap appears.

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I have.  Stay tuned for any exciting updates.

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