Christmas Cactus...

There seems to be a lot of confusion regarding what is truly a "Christmas cactus", versus "Thanksgiving" and "Easter" cacti. My plants, including the 100 year old specimen pictured here with a slightly younger companion, is a true "Christmas Cactus" or Schlumbergera x buckleyi. It is in fact, a hybrid from prior to 1850 by William Buckley in England. For a great many years, the plant was misnamed Schlumbergera bridgesii and only in the 60's was the true identity reestablished as Schlumbergera x buckleyi. To add to the confusion, there are said two be at least two (possibly three) additional clones still in existence from the original cross.

I recognize Schlumbergera x buckleyi from the rounded teeth of the individual segments. Additionally, the pollen is pink in color. The Truncata group, which is considered the Thanksgiving cactus, does indeed flower about a month earlier and the segments of foliage look more like 'claws'.

The history of my largest plant is as follows... when my wife and I were newly married forty years ago, an elderly lady asked if we would be interested in having her plant of Christmas Cactus, as it was getting so large that she was having difficulty finding anyone to move it in and out of her house for the summer. At that time the lady was in her mid 80's and had received the plant as a wedding present. Assuming her marriage was in her early 20's, she possessed the plant for about sixty or more years. Given our ownership of forty years, the 100 year old age is arrived at. I also gained two additional plants a few years after receiving the original. They were said to be 75 years old at that time, although I'm not certain how reliable that information was. They were purchased from an owner of a greenhouse who told me they had belonged to his wife who was in the process of filing a messy divorce... additionally he was highly intoxicated and angry with her when he sold me the plants and I got both for under $50.

^{One huge caution... beware overwatering these plants, especially in the fall... after many years I killed one of the two late comers by doing so. I now allow the foliage on the larger plants to guide my watering and most months they get a drink only once or twice, during the winter hiatus from the outside. When in heavier bloom, I water a bit more often. Honestly, our best luck with many house plants, came when our lives got too busy to keep up with watering in the house. Overwatering is one of the worse culprits in the death of indoor plants in my opinion. My plants would bloom much more heavily if I had a cool sunny window for them. Because of their size, hanging over this basement staircase is the best I can do for light. I leave them on the patio until very late in the season... often covering them for the night when frost is predicted, this being one way to initiate buds for Christmas bloom. Happily, my plants will continue blooming through March and often into April. Pruning is normally accomplished in April but I generally don't get around to it. Mother Nature took care of that this past year when the plants were blown from a five foot wall by an unexpected wind storm. I was able to collect enough cuttings from the ground to establish several large plants to share with friends. The older plant really doesn't look any the worse for wear, although the younger one is now a bit one sided. Over time, judicious pruning should help correct that situation. Larry}