Christmas cactusJust as retailers nowadays blur Thanksgiving and Christmas together into one giant holiday season, so it is with holiday cactuses. The nursery industry has manipulated these plants with bouts of heavy feeding and deprivation so a customer may see them in bloom at any time of year.
Holiday cactus is the general name for several Central American epiphytic cactuses. (Epiphytic means that in nature, they grow on trees, not in the soil.) Botanically speaking, the plant that blooms at Christmastime is
Schlumbergera
x
buckleyi
(syn.
S. bridgesii
).
Thanksgiving cactus, also known as crab or claw cactus, is
which blooms from late autumn into winter. (Easter cactus is
Hatiora rosea
, also known as
.)
It's all a bit confusing. However, you can tell which cactus you have by looking at its leaves. Christmas cactus has rounded notches on the margins of the stem segments, while Thanksgiving cactus has pointed, toothlike notches on the margins. (Easter cactus has toothlike marginal notches with tiny spines or hairs on the stem segments.)
-- Homes & Gardens staff
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