What Is This Plant?

In a previous post I mentioned that I have a houseplant that is older than I am. It was given to my mother when she married in 1931. It is a sweet little plant in a very small pot. She once told me where she got it, and said that it was still in the same pot, and then she said, "Every now and then I put a little water on it." She had it in the East facing window above her kitchen sink. To make a long story short, many years later I brought it to live in the East facing window of my kitchen. It is still in the same little pot, and every now and then I put a little water on it.


We have never known what it is. It has always reminded me of Jack-Rocks, or you may call it Jacks, the pickup game that children play. Maybe someone reading this will recognize it. I have five photos of it; I will just show them all.

Maybe I should mention that it has teeny-tiny little hairs all over it. It is slightly fuzzy.




Addendum: August 25, 2008

Thank you to everyone who pitched in and helped with identifying this unusual plant. You set me on the right path to tracking its lineage. At first I started out by using elimination. Then I followed clues.

Some people suggested it might be pencil plant, Euphorbia tirucalli. I read awhile at some suggested web sites, and looked at photos. It does look very similar to pencil plant, but this plant does not have the burning, milky sap. (I am happy to
say.) So, I am ruling that one out.

Others seemed to think it is Hatiora salicornioides (Dancing Bones Cactus a.k.a. Drunkard's Dream, and Spice Cactus). I visited the referenced web sites, and read both of them. My plant is very similar to that, but not exactly. Most of the H. salicornioides plant is smooth, but mine is fuzzy, nor do the terminal ends look like those in the photos.

However, during my reading I noticed a reference to 'mistletoe cactus'. I dug deeper into that one.

In the genus Rhipsalis are over 60 South American species and varieties, plus synonyms.* (One of the synonyms is Hatiora salicornioides.) Their center of diversity is South America, primarily Brazil. But among the Rhipsalis, one species is considered a biogeographical mystery because it is scattered over several divergent areas of the world; that one is Rhipsalis baccifera, 'Mistletoe Cactus'.

I studied several photographs of varieties of Mistletoe Cactus and they looked like my plant, plus descriptions mentioned the soft white "hairs". Mine has never bloomed so I cannot identify it further. Based on its age, I am sure it is a species plant as opposed to a natural or cultivated variety.

In the wild they are epiphytic plants getting shade from the trees in which they grow, and frequent showers. They need more moisture and humidity than a cactus.

I think mine was getting too much sun in the S.E. window; mother's was more N.E., so I have moved it to a better location. And, it is probably very unhappy having been confined to that little pot all these years. For sentimental reasons I will leave it as is, but I may try taking a cutting and rooting it to be grown on in a larger pot.

I think cultural requirements are similar to that of the Christmas Cactus that I inherited from my paternal grandmother. But, that is another story.

* desert-tropicals.com

Name This Iris?

For eighteen years strap foliage grew in an odd spot: close to a boxwood shrub and beneath a white pine tree, but it never bloomed. I kept watching it, and wondered what it was: Iris? Camassia? The foliage grows about 30 inches tall.

Last year it bloomed for the first time and it was beautiful. It is an unusual blue.

Is this a Siberian Iris???
Does anyone recognize it?
Does anyone know anything about it?

I will post all three photos, because I don't know which will look best to you for identifying.

Kudzu?

Mystery Solved!  One of my college student garden helpers knew it: Moon Seed, Menispermum canadense   Poisonous grape look-alike.   

Can anyone out there help me identify this pest, weed vine?! I need help!
Above: A young shoot growing from an extensive root, that travels underground a long way, putting up new shoots all along its ever increasing length. It is not a morning glory vine, I recognize those when I see them. The blossom is small and not noticeable. Sorry, I do not have a photo of a blossom.

I felt a few moments of panic when someone half-jokingly said: “Maybe it’s kudzu.” I had read that with the warming climate, kudzu is moving northward. It is now in Tennessee and headed for Kentucky. May be here already for all I know. But, I Googled it and looked at the photos of leaves and it is not kudzu – Whew! What a scare!

But what is it?? Like several (no, many) noxious, pernicious growing things, it came over on us from the farm that used to be over the fence. The farm has been developed to a very attractive, high-end neighborhood of large houses. The lawns are well mowed, however fence rows are still infested with bad plants. Hopefully, eventually, they will be eradicated. The problem is that most people do not know much about plants, and do not know a bad one when they see it, if they give any notice to them at all, which they usually don't.

The roots of this species have grown under North Path and Cliff Walk, putting up numerous sprouts over on my side. The vines are twining and quite strong. They twine together (around each other) creating a cord that I cannot break, I have to cut it. The cord grows (going up like a dancing cobra snake) until it reaches the lowest limbs of a tree or shrub and then you know what happens - it heads for the skies!

The most problem area is where it has gotten into my neighbors brush pile area in the back corner of his yard; it then comes over here from there. It grows up his trees, shrubs, and fence at the property line, and over onto our side both above and below ground. He is not physically able to manage the problem.

This is his nice chain-link fence. With his permission I have tried to grow a dark blue Clematis and a rose on the fence, but as you can see the mystery vine invades, takes over and grows so fast one can almost see it growing. Cutting does no good, it comes back rapidly. Our wicked spring and summer 2007 killed the rose and Clematis (I'm hoping the roots are not dead.), so we may be able to spray. But, it has spread to so many other places.



Here it has gone underground under North Path and can be seen mingled with the Virginia Creeper ground cover (five leaves) and some taller perennials forming a matted mess.



Next, it will be up in my trees, too. It causes an enormous amount of additional work. People ask me what it is, and I don't know. Do you?

The bare area inside the concrete blocks is being converted to a bed of large blue Hostas. Since this photo, they have been moved to this shady spot from one where they received too much sun. To the right is North Path.

To the left of the long run of concrete blocks is the steep slope of the bank. On that side the concrete blocks are visible from below in wintertime. Therefore, that side has been planted with a row of small boxwoods in hopes of hiding the unattractive blocks. Just thought you might wonder what was going on with that unattractive space.

Hope you can help with the mystery vine identification. Leave a comment, please, if you can help.