Could this be a Euphorbia millii?

Looks like a sad Crown of Thorns to me. It is definitely lacking something big time. That is a super easy plant to grow. How are you caring for it?

There are half a dozen varieties of E. millii and over 2000 other species of Euphorbia so I'd be careful assuming this is a sick specimen.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:377147}}

Have you compared this with Fouquieria?

Here is a link that might be useful: F. splendens

I just bought it on Thursday at the grocery store. It probably has not received the best of care. It was for sale for 1 dollar. It appears to be in the process of dropping it's leaves. Once I got it home I gave it a drink of water and put in brighter light than it was living in, in the store.
Today the leaves that remain seem to be a bit perkier and I think the stem has put on a bit more green.
I was thinking maybe it is going dormant for the winter, so I thought I would watch how it reacts over the next week before giving it more water.

Hey Saltcedar,

Yeah it definitely could be a Fouquieria, the leaves in that link you provided look very similar to mine, the stem looks similar as well. It's funny, I looked at pictures of Fouquieria on several other sights, but the leaves seemed more rounded than on my plant. I think I will label it as a Fouquieria and observe how it continues to grow.

it's only a baby, give it a chance!!!! If it is fouqueria, wouldn't it possibly go dormant winter?

A euphorbia seems much more likely to me. Is anyone growing ocotillo in large scale commercial greenhouses and sending it out to supermarkets etc.?

I doubt it's a E milii, seems too thorny (I grow at least 5 diff ones). Also mine are all in leaf now, 2 of 5 are also blooming.

Just going by what is most likely to be offered makes E millii ( and hybrid!s) a very likely candidate. It seems there are a gazillion different types offered under the " umbrella label' E millii.

A young cutting is very unlikely to flower

The amount of foliage depends on water regime and light: leaves tend to drop of if a plant is shipped without TLC.
My dad used to grow some, and he loved to point out the varying leaves: see, that's when I gave liquid fert and so on.

Bye, Lin

I didn't mean to be ugly. I just felt sorry for the plant! I have bought many a dying or sad looking plant because I felt sorry for it. I used to grow them outside in Vero Beach, Florida. They were a very low maintenance plant.