Name/Care of this plant

[Mercedesladie]

I have had this plant for 10 years or more. A friend at work gave it to me and she said her mom sent it to her from China. She could not remember the name and said it only bloomed one time at night and by the next morning the bloom would be gone. I have never seen it bloom or any signs of a bloom. Here are some pics. Any help on identification would be great.

Thanks,
Mercedesladie

[sandra]

From your description and by the look of it, I think this is a Night Blooming Cereus. They grow like weeds and last forever. A Google search will bring up a lot of info on these.

[Mercedesladie]

Thanks Sandra, It does grow like a weed but I have never seen it bloom.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Sure looks like a fern to me.

[WIB]

Interesting mystery. The description fits a night-booming cereus (Epiphyllum). The picture is a little hard to read, but the translucent leaves look more like some ferns than like the rather leathery and lobed leaves of an Epiphyllum. A fern would like lots of moisture and not a lot of light. It will never bloom. To bloom Epiphyllum wants to stay fairly dry and get lots of light, even direct sun, and to be a fairly mature plant. If it blooms, it will do so at night in late August or September in the Northern Hemisphere. An Epiphyllum has a firm stem, about 3/8" in diameter, which will extend for several feet in a mature plant. Leaves will come off every foot or so at a slight angle.

The fact that it came from China may or may not be a clue. Epiphyllums are from Central America and belong to the cactus family, but they have been hybridized and, of course, carried all over the world. Nevertheless, a plant coming from China seems more likely to be a fern.

My guess is that this is a fern of some sort, but I'm not good at identifying ferns.

Here's a link to the San Deigo Epiphyllum Society:

http://www.epiphyllum.com/

[sandra]

I know, I'm a little torn between thinking a fern also but I'm still leaning towards cereus. The shiny leaves, although I've seen them on the cereus, are what persuade me that it may be a fern.

Here's a cereus taken from TopTropicals.com. What do you think?


and here's another pic I found from a Google search (that's one messy room)...

[WIB]

What leads me away from thinking it's a night-blooming cereus is that on Mercedesladie's plant each petiole has a single leaf, and there are no branching petioles or lobed leaves. On my cereus, the leaves come off the petiole, or stem, at an angle, not straight as in her picture, and the stem itself angles at that point and heads off to where another leaf will sprout. The image from TopTropicals has lobed or at least curly-edged leaves; the Google picture shows stems extending beyond the junction with the leaf. I suspect they are different hybrids, so they don't quite look like each other, but neither one, to my eye, looks enough like Mercedesladie's picture to make me think her plant is an Epiphyllum. By my standards the room is only sort of messy. -- Bill

[Mercedesladie]

Hi Everyone,
I do think it is a cereus. I cut it way back this spring and during the winter I completely ignore it. I have even thought of trashing it because it was just a green plant and I couldn't find out what it was. Last spring it looked just like the plant from the google search. I have researched the care and will try to take better care of it and try to get it to bloom. If I am successful, I will post a pic next summer. The leaves do have a kind of leathery feel to them. Thanks for all the great input!

I love this site,
Mercedesladie

[WIB]

On looking more carefully, I think you are right. I spent a portion of last night, having wakened around 2 a.m., wondering whether it might be an arum of some sort, like a spathiphyllum, or a fern. But the leaves do have a wavy edge, and the stems look right for a night-blooming cereus. Also, I'm now looking at the pictures on a different screen, and the leaves are easier to see and do look properly leathery to me. I'm told that keeping them fairly dry and giving them as much light as they can take is the clue to bloom. -- Bill

[elitebettas]

It looks like a night blooming cereus to me, here is a picture of one of my neighbor's, with a bud. He has his on his patio in full sun

[pikevi]

Yes, I think it is a night blooming Cereus. I bought one yesterday. The leaves look the same. may be less wavy (scallop?). Please check the thread I just posted for a photo of what I have.

It looks very healthy, mercedesladie.

[Mercedesladie]

Hi Pikevi,
I looked at your plant and it looks very nice. Do you know what color the flowers will be? I have been looking on line and they can be white, pink, yellow or red. I don't know if how you take care of them or feed them determines the color or if they are just that color no matter what you do. I will have to take better care of mine this winter and hope it will bloom next spring. I can hardly wait to see what color it is going to be! If you get yours to bloom, please post a pic.

Thanks,
Mercedesladie

[pikevi]

I thnk the flowers are almost always white. Some may have a tinge of pink or yellow in them. I have not seen any red though.

Some flowers ( on the 'net) seem to be from 'night blooming cactus' which is quite different from 'night blooming Cereus'. I had a hard time trying to figure that out , until I saw the pictures of whole plants . The manager at one of the garden centres I buy from said many still call it cactus and that the demand for it is very poor.

I will check with them next time as to the colour. I assumed mine is white.