my new noid cacti!

[bonsai1504]

i saw these little guys sitting on a shelf at wal-mart. does anyone have a clue at what they are? thanks in advance!

[growme]

Sorry. Can't help. Isn't it frustrating when they only label it as "assorted cactus?"

[bonsai1504]

they came separately in 1.5 inch pots and i potted them in this little miniature bonsai pot i had.

[Ross]

The short dark green one is a Mamillaria. The others are either Parodia or Rebutia. Not sure on the second two, but the Mamillaria is a surebet.

[bonsai1504]

thanks ross! i just discovered that Mamillaria in the bulbophyllum of the cacti world(largest group)

[Ross]

I'm so embarrased! I used to know my cacti when I was doing these in the "dark ages". I guess I could look them up in y books?

[bonsai1504]

it's fine. what's embarrasing is when you don't know how to correctly write an orchid name.

[Ross]

One of the major problems is that jouvenile cacti don't always look like the adults. So presence or absence of spines/hairs may not mean anything for identification. I thought I recognized the hairy one, but turned out I was very off on ID.

[bonsai1504]

they were the 97 cent ones at wal-mart. nothing special.

[stonedragonfarms]

I agree that the first one could be a mammillaria, though it also looks like it could be an echinocereus to me (the glochids are more pronounced and larger than on most mammillarias that I have seen); the second appears to be something in the trichocereus family to me, though it could also be one of the haageocereus...; the third "wooly" one is probably either a cephalocereus or oreocereus. Enjoy them while they are young, if you pot them up and give them plenty of root space & feeding they will grow rapidly (and the blooms are always nice!)
Adam