Overview
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Threatened |
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Common Names
Common Names in English:
Christmas Cactus, Schlumbergera
Description
Family Cactaceae
Fleshy
perennials
, shrubs
, trees
or vines
, terrestrial
or epiphytic. Stems jointed
, terete
, globose
, flattened, or fluted
, mostly leafless and variously spiny
. Leaves alternate, flat or subulate
to terete, vestigial, or entirely absent; spines, glochids (easily detached, small, bristlelike spines), and flowers always arising from cushionlike, axillary
areoles (modified short shoots
) . Flowers solitary, sessile, rarely clustered and stalked (in Pereskia), bisexual
, rarely unisexual
, actinomorphic
or occasionally zygomorphic. Receptacle tube
(hypanthium or perianth tube) absent or short to elongate
, naked or invested with leaflike bracts, scales
, areoles, and hairs
, bristles
, or spines; perianth segments usually numerous
, in a sepaloid
to petaloid
series. Stamens numerous, variously inserted
in throat
and tube; anthers
2-loculed, dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary (pericarpel) inferior, rarely superior, 1-loculed, with 3 to many parietal
(rarely basal) placentas; ovules usually numerous; style 1; stigmas 2 to numerous, papillate
, rarely 2-fid. Fruit juicy or dry, naked, scaly
, hairy
, bristly
, or spiny, indehiscent or dehiscent
, when juicy then pulp derived from often deliquescent funicles
(except in Pereskia) . Seeds usually numerous, often arillate
or strophiolate
; embryo curved
or rarely straight; endosperm present or absent; cotyledons reduced or vestigial, rarely leaflike.
About 110 genera and more than 1000 species: temperate
and tropical
America; Rhipsalis baccifera (J. S. Mueller) Stearn native
in tropical Africa, Madagascar, Comoros, Mascarenes, and Sri Lanka; some species of other genera now extensively naturalized
in the Old World through human agency; more than 60 genera and 600 species cultivated as ornamentals
or hedges
in China, of which four genera and seven species more or less naturalized.[1]
Physical Description
Flowers: Bloom Period: October, November. • Flower Color: red-purple
Size/Age/Growth
Size: 6-12" tall.
Habitat
Ecology: Southern humid forest
element
: lithophytic/epiphytic, mata de neblina, c.
1,700 m.
[2]
List of Habitats
:1.6Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland
6Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs
, mountain peaks)
Biology
Growth
Culture: Space 6-9" apart.
Soil: Minimum pH: 5.6 • Maximum pH: 7.5
Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Sun to Partial Shade.
Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 10b, 11. (map)
Taxonomy
- Domain:
Eukaryota
(
)
- Whittaker & Margulis,1978
- eukaryotes
- Kingdom:
Plantae
()
- Haeckel, 1866
- Plants
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
()
- Cavalier-Smith, 1981
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
()
- Sinnott, 1935 Ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998
- Vascular Plants
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
()
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
()
- Kenrick & Crane, 1997
- Class:
Magnoliopsida
()
- Brongniart, 1843
- Dicotyledons
- Subclass:
Caryophyllidae
()
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Superorder:
Caryophyllanae
()
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Order:
Caryophyllales
()
- Perleb, 1826
- Suborder:
Portulacineae
()
- Family:
Cactaceae
()
- Durande, 1782, Nom. Cons.
- Cactus Family
- Subfamily:
Cactoideae
()
- Genus:
Schlumbergera
()
- Lemaire, 1858
- Specific epithet:
opuntioides
- (Loefgr. & Dusen) D.R.Hunt
- Botanical name: - Schlumbergera opuntioides
- Specific epithet:
opuntioides
- (Loefgr. & Dusen) D.R.Hunt
- Genus:
Schlumbergera
(
- Subfamily:
Cactoideae
(
- Family:
Cactaceae
(
- Suborder:
Portulacineae
(
- Order:
Caryophyllales
(
- Superorder:
Caryophyllanae
(
- Subclass:
Caryophyllidae
(
- Class:
Magnoliopsida
(
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
(
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
(
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
(
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
(
- Kingdom:
Plantae
(
Similar Species
Members of the genus Schlumbergera
ZipcodeZoo has pages for 150 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:
S. 'Altrosa' · S. 'Barbara' · S. 'Beach Dancer' · S. bridgesii · S. 'Bristol Princess' · S. buckleyi (Schlumbergera) · S. 'Burnt Orange' · S. candida · S. 'Caribbean Dancer' · S. 'Cebebiba' · S. 'Cebeceline' · S. 'Cebedelta' · S. 'Cebehaca' · S. 'Cebelanka' · S. 'Cebeplika' · S. 'Ceberuska' · S. 'Cebeskola' · S. 'Cebetema' · S. 'Christin' · S. 'Christmas' (Thanksgiving Cactus) · S. 'Christmas Flame' · S. 'Christmas Joy' · S. 'Delictatus' · S. 'Delilac' (Christmas Cactus) · S. epiphylloides · S. exotica (Schlumbergera) · S. 'Exotic Dancer' · S. 'Frankenstolz' · S. gaertneri · S. 'Garten Inspector Voll' · S. 'Gertrude W Beahm' · S. 'Golden Dancer' · S. 'Gold Charm' · S. 'Greasers Pink' · S. 'Hatherton Pinky' (Thanksgiving Cactus) · S. 'Holly White' · S. hybrid 3E 86 · S. 'Ilona' · S. 'Jaffa' · S. kautskyi (Thanksgiving Cactus) · S. 'Laterne' · S. 'Lilofee' · S. 'Linda' · S. 'Lydia' · S. 'Lynn' · S. 'Madame Fournie' · S. 'Mallissa' · S. 'Maria' · S. 'Maria' × 'Sonja' · S. 'Maruska' · S. 'Mary' (Thanksgiving Cactus) · S. microsphaerica (Christmas Cactus) · S. microsphaerica candida · S. 'Morgan le Fay' · S. 'Nicole' (Thanksgiving Cactus) · S. 'Norris' · S. obtusangula · S. opuntioides (Christmas Cactus) · S. orssichiana (Schlumbergera) · S. 'Otto Vol' · S. 'Plicata' · S. 'Purple Devil' · S. 'Purple King' (Schlumbergera Hybrid) · S. 'Red Devil' · S. reginae (Schlumbergera) · S. 'Romance' · S. russeliana · S. russelliana (Schlumbergera) · S. 'Russian Dancer' (Thanksgiving Cactus) · S. 'Salmonea' · S. 'Samba Brasil' · S. 'Sanne' · S. 'Sarah' · S. 'Snowdrifts' (Thanksgiving Cactus) · S. 'Snowflake' · S. 'Spectabile' · S. 'Stephanie' · S. 'Thor-Carmen' · S. 'Thoralise' (Thanksgiving Cactus) · S. 'Thormia' · S. 'Thorolga' · S. 'Thortea' · S. 'Thor Bella' · S. 'Thor Carmen' · S. 'Thor Ritt' · S. 'Thor Tenna' · S. truncata (False Christmas Cactus) · S. truncata 'Abendrothiana' · S. truncata 'Alexis' (Thanksgiving Cactus) · S. truncata 'Amanda' (Thanksgiving Cactus) · S. truncata 'Aspen' · S. truncata 'Barbara' (Thanksgiving Cactus) · S. truncata 'Bridgeport' (Thanksgiving Cactus) · S. truncata 'Christmas Fantasy' (Thanksgiving Cactus) · S. truncata 'Claudia' (Thanksgiving Cactus) · S. truncata 'Cyber Dancer' (Thanksgiving Cactus) · S. truncata 'Dark Red Marie' (Thanksgiving Cactus) · S. truncata 'Dark Sonja' (Thanksgiving Cactus) · S. truncata 'Dasher' · S. truncata 'Eva' (Thanksgiving Cactus)
More Info
- Search for Pictures: images.google.com
- Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
- Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
- Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books
Further Reading
- Anderson, E. F. (2001): The Cactus Family, Timber Press, Protland, Oregon
- Taylor, N.P. and Zappi, D.C. 2004. Cacti of Eastern Brazil. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
- .Li Zhenyu. 1999. Cactaceae. In: Ku Tsuechih, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 52(1): 272-285.
Notes
Contributors
- Taylor, N.P. 2002. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 19, 2008.
Identifiers
- Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 5787344
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 15310253
- Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:138466-1
- IUCN ID: 40875
- Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 891648
Footnotes
- Zhen-yu Li & Nigel P. Taylor "Cactaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 13 Page 209. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
- Taylor, N.P. 2002. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 19, 2008. [back]
