Succulents and cacti in all their glory

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Parodia horstii. Cacti are also flowering plants botanically speaking and if you cultivate your cactus correctly it will produce flowers. swissinfo.ch

Pilosocereus pachycladus swissinfo.ch

Melocactus ernestii swissinfo.ch

Winterocereus aureispinus swissinfo.ch

Cistanthe grandiflora swissinfo.ch

Aloe palmiformis swissinfo.ch

Lithops pseudotruncatella, or living stones. These are very popular with visitors. swissinfo.ch

Euphorbia milii, or Crown of Thorns swissinfo.ch

Opuntie sulphurea swissinfo.ch

Epiphyte House. Epiphytes are also known as "air plants". These light-loving plants do not grow on the ground, but on trees, obtaining their nutrients from debris that collects in the fissures of the tree's bark. As water is scarce, many are succulents. swissinfo.ch

Bolivicereus samaipatanus swissinfo.ch

Euphorbia cooperi. The constrictions on the stems show how much the succulent - despite appearances it is not a cactus - grows per season. swissinfo.ch

Selenicereus grandiflorus (young fruit), Queen of the Night after it has flowered. swissinfo.ch

Rockery. This houses Alpine succulents as well as winter-hardy species from North and South America, Central Asia and South Africa. swissinfo.ch

Decarya madagascariensis swissinfo.ch

Winterocereus colademononis swissinfo.ch

Cyphostemma juttae. Do the fruit look familiar? This succulent is part of the grape family. swissinfo.ch

Copiapoa gigantea. Some cacti are globular in shape, like this one from Chile. swissinfo.ch

Bromelia laciniosa swissinfo.ch

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Spiky, flowery, large and small – round, columnar, or looking like small stones. The Zurich Succulent Plant Collection contains more than 25,000 succulent plants – that is water-storing plants from dry regions. They include cacti, agaves, aloes and stonecrops. (Text: Isobel Leybold-Johnson, Images: Ester Unterfinger)