Plant of the day is Schlumbergera spp. or Christmas cactus

Plant of the day is Schlumbergera spp. or Christmas cactus.

So basically, gotta get me one o these.

awwwww yeah

The wiki page on this is quite extensive so I really recommend checking it out.  It has a lot of information, the taxonomic classification of this is almost comical.  

So this is a true member of the Cactaceae family.  Yay.  Amazingly enough Linnaeus started the GENUS Cactus back in 1753.  Heh, they had a lot of cacti to find eh?  There are about 125-130 genera in the Cactus family now...for reference.  So anyways, it is a native of the coastal mountains of south east Brazil.  It is unique from a lot of cacti in that it does well in quite a bit of shade and actually handles some cooler temperatures well.  Making it a pretty solid choice for a houseplant.

Where are the leaves you ask?  Well, in a broad sense there aren't any really.  The green segments are stems that are photosynthetic.  There are two different types of Schlumbergera, the Truncata group and the Buckleyi group.  The Truncata group plants have pointier segments and less symmetrical flowers (zygomorphic) while the Buckleyi group have rounded (crenate/dentate) teeth on the segments and more symmetrical flowers.  

A note on the flowers.  They've got a whole buncha tepals.  Inner parts of the flower form a tube that hummingbirds like.  Most species require cross pollination to fertilize.

The plant has been around and in cultivation/breeding since the first half of the 19th century.  It is a hugely popular houseplant and comes in a variety of sizes, colors, etc.  Widely hybridized (hence the spp.).  

So a quick note on care and what not.  In nature these are epiphytes (live on trees) or lithophytes (live on rocks).  So, slightly acidic very well drained soil would be great.  Yep.  Don't overwater, it IS a cactus.  They DO like humidity so maybe don't stick it near you heater.  Thar be other plants for that.  Flowering is directly tied to length of daylight/darkness, that's on you to look up :).

I don't have any Cacti members at home.  Only Crassulaceae, my Jade plants would love more light.  Oh, they also do the CAM photosynthesis thing if you ever get curious about it...its fascinating.  I promise.  Let me just store my CO2 as an acid till I need it....brilliant.

That's all folks!