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Christmas Cactus 2009-11-25 002

balcony

By Balcony


Christmas Cactus  2009-11-25 002 (Schlumbergera truncata)

This is a close up of the individual flowers of this small Christmas Cactus growing in my kitchen window. I love the delicate flowers! These plants are not true Cactus but succulents. They store water in their thick leaves so don't need watering often.



Comments on this photo

 

It's lovely.

26 Nov, 2009

 

Great close up , the colours look so fresh!!

26 Nov, 2009

 

Thanks for your comments, ladies. It is lovely & yes, the colours DO look very fresh, like they have been through a shower of rain! LOL!

26 Nov, 2009

 

They are true cacti. They belong to the Cactaceae family like the prickly desert ones.

26 Nov, 2009

 

I'm afraid you are wrong, Hywel, as these are tropical succulents & would soon die in a desert setting! I put Christmas Cactus into Google with the intention of trying to find its true botanical name but became distracted with reading the growing tips on the the I put in a link to. I wanted to look it up in my RHS Garden Plant Dictionary.

Just done a new search & the plant I have may well be Schlumbergera truncata.

26 Nov, 2009

 

No, I am right. They belong to the cactus family. They live in tropical areas but they are true cacti.
They grow as epiphytes on the branches of trees. Epiphyllums are the same - but they are true cacti.

26 Nov, 2009

 

Sorry, Hywel, I should have known better than to argue with you over Cacti!

28 Nov, 2009

 

lol. It doesn't matter. It looks nothing like a cactus so that's misleading.

It's to do with the arrangement of petals, and the shape of the fruit. It's exactly the same as in the desert cacti, - so it belongs to the same family.

28 Nov, 2009



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This photo is of species Schlumbergera truncata.

This photo is of "Thanksgiving Cactus " in Balcony's garden

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