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where some of the differences show up," he said, going on to explain that the Thanksgiving Cactus, Zygocactus (Schlumbergera) truncatus, has wider flattened stems with a few pointed projections or serrations to the tip of the cladodes.
• "The flowers are usually bright pink, purple, white - often edged in pink or a golden yellow color. The true Christmas Cactus, usually Schlumbergera bridgesii have somewhat narrower stem segments with more rounded tips to the cladodes," Graper said, adding that there is also an Easter Cactus, Rhipsalidopsis gaetneri, with wider cladodes, tipped with a fringe of several hairs.
• Graper said all of these plants are photoperiodic, which means that they perceive the length of the night.
• "When the night or dark period gets long enough, they initiate flower buds and bloom," he said.
• According to Graper, the Thanksgiving cactus usually flowers earlier than the Christmas Cactus followed later by the Easter Cactus, as the nights start to get shorter again. In order to have them ready in time for the holidays each year, Graper explained that producers of these plants control the length of the dark period using either lights to shorten or shade cloth to extend the length of night.
• "These holiday plants are members of the Cactus family, but they usually are associated with habitats that are more like jungles than deserts," he said. "They are native to South America where they are often found growing on rocks or tree trunks and branches."
(Continued on page 7)
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