Title image above is copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos

First published 18th January 2025

I am a sucker for all things ‘succulent’. ‘Succulent’ being a very broad definition in botany of any plant that has fleshy leaves or other parts which store water.

‘Succulent’ comes from the French succulent, which comes from the Latin succulentus.
Succulentus is from the Latin succus (‘juice’) +‎ -ulentus (‘full of, abounding in’).

‘Succulent’ is not a taxonomic term, as it doesn’t refer to any specific group of related plants as botanical families and genera do. It simply refers to any fleshy plant, and used similarly as one might use ‘tree’ or ‘red-flowering’.

You will often see the phrase ‘cacti and succulents’ mentioned in nurseries and on plant-related sites, and there is nothing wrong with this at all. However, it is unintentionally misleading, as it does imply that there is one group called ‘cacti’ and another called ‘succulents’, with the two separate yet similar in some way.

This couldn’t be further from the truth! Cacti are just as much succulents as the ones called succulents outright are. The cactus family is just one of about 60 which contain succulents.

Succulents could be cacti (the Cactaceae family), euphorbias (the Euphorbiaceae family), or even bottle trees! (There isn’t a ‘bottle tree family’ per se, but the Malvaceae family is one of several which have ‘bottle trees’.)
And more besides, such as the crassulas of the Crassulaceae family.

Going further, there is no single part common to all succulents in which water is stored.

Various succulent species could be referred to as:
• ‘stem succulents’, such as the Dragon’s blood tree (Dracaena draco) or Queensland bottle tree (Brachychiton rupestris);


Dragon’s Blood Tree (Dracaena draco), Wollongong Botanic Garden, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos


Queensland Bottle Tree (Brachychiton rupestris), Wollongong Botanic Garden, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos

• ‘leaf succulents’, such as Haworthia spp.;


Haworthia sp.
copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos

‘stem and leaf succulents’, such as Crassula spp.;


Crassula spp.
copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos

• and even ‘woody succulents’, such as Crown-of-thorns (Euphorbia milii)


Euphorbia milii
copyright © Kristi Ellinopoullos

Every one listed here is of a different genus — Dracaena, Brachychiton, Haworthia, Crassula, and Euphorbia — and not one of these is even a cactus, much less in the same family as another!

For those interested:
Dracaena - Asparagaceae family (yes, the asparagus family!)
Brachychiton - Malvaceae family
Haworthia - Asphodelaceae family
Crassula - Crassulaceae family
Euphorbia - Euphorbiaceae family

Would you believe that I have quite the collection of succulents, but don’t actually know what most of them are past the genus level?! I will be using this blog to slowly identify each to the species level, and hopefully to the variety, forma and cultivar level where appropriate.