The Fish bone cactus/Cryptocereus anthonyanus is an epiphytic cactus grown for its unusual leaves. Although the plant has fragrant nocturnal blooms, mine has never flowered in the last ten years!
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In the wild it clings to the trunk of trees by sending out aerial roots. Here, a stray ‘branch’ is attaching itself to the trunk of a young mango tree in my backyard.
The Fish bone cactus is also known as the Zig zag plant or Ric-rac cactus. I’m growing it in pots in regular cactus potting mix. It gets filtered sunlight in the mornings and full sun in the afternoons. I never knew that the species bloomed until (recently), I looked it up on the internet and saw how gorgeous the blooms were. Maybe now I should go and hunt for the flowering variety?!;)
I love this plant Kanak. I have never seen/heard of it before! That is funny that yours does not bloom. I sure hope you can purchase one that does to share with us. Blessings to you and yours this weekend.
Kanak, I too have this, and it hasn’t flowered in 12 years! My gardener says he has seen its flowers in one of the gardens he works. I should go and see what they do.
New to me, a very interesting/unusual cactus, Kanak. Happy weekend 🙂
I have recently resuscitated one my mum gave me. It is still small since I had almost killed it with neglect. Now I know that it climbs, I will put it onto something and not into a hanging basket as planned. Perhaps it needs more light to bloom, I will investigate this problem.
What a neat looking plant Kanak. I can see why it’s called Fishbone.
Hope you have a great weekend!
If you didn’t tell me that it is a cactus, I would have thought that it is an orchid.
I googled to check out how the bloom looks like… it’s really gorgeous! One site says the plant blooms at night and one night only… maybe you miss it he he… And the foliage… definitely look like fish bone 😀 Nonetheless, hope you can find the flowering variety soon. Have a great weekend.
… does look like a fish bone – even if it doesn’t bloom it looks beautiful … but hope u get the flowering one too !!
What an interesting plant Kanak and new to me – I googled it and it looks nice too in hanging baskets. I like the way the flower has a another “star like bit” at the end of the stamens. Very nice indeed and I hope one day you get yours to flower or source a new one that flowers reliably for you.
My plant now has about 6 bud’s on it I have had it about 11/2 years started as a small 6 in plant. It now has branches 4-6 ft. long the branches on mine are huge. I also have one I started in the spring and is going wild to but no buds yet.