I’m wondering if it might be an epiphytic cactus or other succulent hanging out of a more normal tree?

Robo, I think you may have nailed it! Now I know why the leaves looked familiar. They look very similar to what we call “Christmas cactus” and the spent flowers definitely look the same. Using your description, I found this picture Of an epiphytic cactus. Looking at where the flowers emerge and how the spent flowers look, looks the same to me.

It is both - the ficus and something else, such as the succulent.

Looking back at the first picture, I see the succulents leaves everywhere. That must be one HUGE cactus living in that tree...or maybe just lots of different ones.

Thanks all for help with the identification!

It looks like a Tan Hua Flower maybe stuck in a tree? The Tan Hua Flower only blooms at midnight, right? Or, maybe it's only at night time?

There is an app you can put on your phone and it will identify plants from pics you take of them....plantsnap?

The plant has been identified. It is an epiphyllum. It is an epiphytic jungle or rainforest succulent that grows IN trees but is not a part of them.

btw, plant ID apps are pretty useless :-) But the Name That Plant forum here on GardenWeb has an excellent reputation for amazingly fast and accurate ID's

The GW /houzz tree forum is a great place for your question. Those leaves DO Look like big Christmas cactus...strange!

I have a plant ID app on my phone. I think it is PlantSnap. It was recommended to me by a Master Gardener friend. Apparently it has a huge learning curve. I tried to use it to identify plants at DD’s new house and I never could figure out how to make it work.

This question was cross posted in FL Gardening and Trees. I was unaware of Name That Plant. Trying to find a forum, if you don’t know that it exists and what its name is, is a gargantuan task. I’ll try to remember “Name That Plant.”

Def. 2 different plants. I have pitayas climbing the live oaks in our yard.

The tree looks like it's being taken over by a strangler fig - so perhaps 3 plants would be more accurate?

For future reference the Name That Plant Forum is Here.