New home for my creeping devil cactus

I love plants that are out of the ordinary. It comes as no surprise then that I fell for the creeping devil cactus the first time I saw one. The name alone is enough to get your attention. Creeping devil. Take a look at the photos below, and you’ll see why it’s called that.

Creeping devil (Stenocereus eruca) in the Desert Garden at the Huntington

Desert Garden at the Huntington

Instead of growing upright, like a good cactus should, the creeping devil resembles a tangle of snakes frozen in mid-writhe.

And if you think a pot can contain it for any length of time, take a look at this photo taken at the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory:

Creeping devil escaping its pot at the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory

Found only on the central Pacific coast of Baja California Sur, Mexico, the creeping devil (Stenocereus eruca) grows on sandy soils and forms massive colonies. Befitting its common name, it’s the only “moving” cactus in the world. It grows horizontally from the base, with only the growing tip raised above the ground, and develops new roots where it touches the ground to absorb water and nutrients. As it gradually moves across the sand, the back end (base) dies off and decomposes. In its native habitat, which has a moderate marine climate with frequent coastal fog, the creeping devil can “travel” up to two feet per year. Transplanted into a hot, arid environment, the growth rate may be two feet per decade.

The creeping devil is in the genus Sterocereus, like the iconic organ pipe cactus (Stenocereus thurberi) from southern Arizona, mainland Mexico, and Baja California. The species name, eruca, is Latin for “caterpillar,” alluding to the way the cactus crawls along the ground. In their 1986 book The Cactus Primer, biologists A.C. Gibson and P.S. Nobel called the creeping devil “truly one of the world’s most curious plants” and the “most extreme case of clonal propagation in the cactus family” as the new stems take root and move forward while the older parts die off and remain behind.

Succulent expert Jan Emming, whom I visited at his 40-acre Destination:Forever Ranch in northwestern Arizona in 2019 and 2021, recently wrote an in-depth article on Stenocereus eruca, complete with photos taken in habitat. I highly recommend it for more information on this fascinating plant.

Creeping devil at Jeff Moore’s Solana Succulents Nursery

The creeping devil is rare in cultivation, probably because it’s hard to accommodate in suburban gardens. But I do occasionally see it in specialty nurseries (Solana Succulents above) and in succulent shows (2021 Inter-City Show below).

Tony Marino’s impeccably staged creeping devil at the 2021 Inter-City Show

I bought my own creeping devil at the San Diego Cactus and Succulent Society’s Winter Sale in February 2023. It grew happily in a plastic pot next to the front porch, sailing through the wet 2023/2024 winter and thumbing its nose at the heat domes this summer. However, it was getting to the point where it started to lean (remember, it wants to crawl along the ground), so the time had come to figure out what to do next.

My creeping devil, August 2024

My creeping devil, August 2024

Inspired by Tony Marino’s 2021 Inter-City Show entry, I knew wanted to do something similar, but I couldn’t find an appropriate container. When I mentioned this to my friend Kyle, he immediately offered to make a rectangular planter out of spare wood he had in reserve. I love what he came up with:

The bottom is wire mesh and a layer of water-permeable landscape fabric:

I filled the box with a free-draining blend of commercial cactus mix, pumice, and 3/8" lava rock:

Here’s my creeping devil after planting:

OK, but not great.

For the next iteration, I swapped out the plain rock with two pieces of petrified wood and added a layer of horticultural sand to mimic the creeping devil’s natural habitat:

I was quite satisfied with this look. At least for a moment. The next day, I decided to take out the petrified wood and try a piece of real driftwood, complemented by two yellowish rocks:

I’m happy with this arrangement, but I’ll keep my eyes open for – well, I don’t know for what, but there may be something else out there that would complement my creeping devil even better. By then, it might have outgrown Kyle’s planter anyway.

© Gerhard Bock, 2024. All rights reserved. To receive all new posts by email, please subscribe here.