Expert: Jeff - 2/2/2005

Question
Hi Jeff, I'm so happy to have come across your page. I recently purchased a beautiful "Indoor Cactus" (as the tag on the home depot sticker refers to it) and I do not know what kind of cactus it is, and therefore am having trouble finding out how to take care of it.  It does say "cactaceae" on the tag also.  I have never owned a cactus before.  The one I chose is a cactus that does not have any thorns or prickers (I'm not even sure what they're called!), and currently does not have any flowers.  I don't know if it ever does.  The leaves look like the cartoon charachter SHREK's ears.  They are supple and plump but flat and have a shape sort of resembling a tear drop or an oval. The group of leaves that make up the plant (which is in a 5 gallon pot) are brought together atop a series of stalks that go directly into the soil (kind of like mangroves).  I am hoping that you will maybe be able to tell what I'm trying to describe and know it's name, and possibly have some care tips. Thank you for your time and help!  Kindly, Stephanie

Answer
Dear Stephanie,

First, I certainly appreciate your patience - I don't check my Hotmail account often, so I didn't get to your question until last night.

Home Dodo is notorious for having incorrect stickers on their plants.

If it's labeled 'Cactaceae', that's just the Cactus family.

I wish for the life of me that I'd been paying more attention to a post I saw several months ago - the poster described the plant as 'Shrek's Ears' and (big guess) I want to remember that the plant in question is a Kalanchoe gastonis-bonnieri, also known as Bryophyllum gastonis-bonnieri. Would you be able to send me a pic of the plant to the following email address:

jharris@seawestwindpower.com

If that is indeed the plant, it's not in the cactus family at all (cacti are essentially New World). The plant that I think it is is Old World (from Madagascar) and is in the same family (Crassulaceae) as the Jade plant (Crassula ovata).

Stephanie, I would dearly love to tell you how to take care of it, but......it's frustrating. I love almost all Kalanchoes (in fact, their one of my favorite genera) but K. g.-b. is one plant I've not been able to take care of at all - at least not for very long. I think I've killed three. Almost all other Kalanchoes grow well for me, but not that one.

At any rate, let's see if that's the plant you have. I hope it is - I think there's a lot of information on it out on the Web.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Kind regards,

Jeff