Types Of Christmas Cactus

Its leafless and flat segmented pads of green stem grow in a waterfall-like pattern.

Types Of Christmas Cactus. The most obvious way to tell the difference between the two types is to look at the phylloclades or flattened leaflike stems where photosynthesis occurs. Christmas cactus grows up to 3 feet and has hanging branches made up of shiny green pads. They prefer a relatively cool and shaded region that has high humidity.

Christmas cactus holiday cactus comes in three main types. 2 Schlumbergera x buckleyi Christmas cactus United States Originally a hybrid between Schlumbergera russelliana and Schlumbergera truncata your Schlumbergera x buckleyi may have all scalloped leaves or scalloped and pointed ones. The Christmas cactus Schlumbergera truncata blooms from October through January giving rise to its common name.

In the Northern Hemisphere they are called Christmas cactus Thanksgiving cactus crab cactus and holiday cactus. It sells as Christmas cactus Thankgiving cactus and holiday cactus at various stores during the holidays. Schlumbergera truncata Schumbelgera bridgesii and Rhipsalidopsis gaertnerii.

True Christmas cacti S. 3 Schlumbergera bridgesii Christmas cactus. As I later learned from my good friend George Hochmuth professor emeritus University of Florida there are actually three different holiday cacti.

The flowers bloom once a year and come in shades of fuchsia yellow salmon pink white orange red and sometimes will even have a combination of the colorsThe Christmas cacti are tropical plants. Most of the popular houseplants are cultivars of Schlumbergera rather than species with flowers in white pink. The sharp-toothed edges of this plant suggest it is actually a Thanksgiving cactus a species of its own.