Yup, True Christmas Cactus, not Thanksgiving Cactus. Congratulations!

Lennie

Yeahhhh, do you know why they are so rare? What makes it rare, this plant propagated so easy that this year i took 1 seg. off of each branch, got around 20 pieces all of them rooted in 1 month still alive to this day.

Sure is!!!! Yahoo for you! Now, we wait for the flowers. You do know how to make them, right?

Mike

Are the flowers of CC much different to those of TCs?

Hi Larry..I hope things are well with you. Better here:-0)

Flowers of both cacti are very similar.

But, if there is any confusion as to the difference of the plants, they can also be identified from each other from the flowers. Flowers of the Thanksgiving cactus have anthers that bear the pollen which are yellowish in color, while they are purplish in the Christmas.

MIke

MM,
just a little add on to your id Buckleyi Christmas Cactus blooms hang down while the TG's curve upward & out from the stem
cliff

Now I want a CC!
Also an EC . And any other letter would be good ;)

Nice-looking (healthy) plant, Grant. It looks pretty big to me already, but I'm a connoisseur of small plants in general. The most helpful thing I learned about these kinds of "cactus" is that they are not from the desert and don't want dry, sandy "soil."

Now that I know they're not prickly, I want them all, too, even summer solstice cactus!

Just guessing here, but they're probably rare because people mostly only want to buy them in bloom during the holidays, which is probably tricky for suppliers to deal with. It's probably just easier to concentrate on plants that are more malleable to ensuring that are blooming at that time, like Poinsettias and bulbs. I can't be the only one who thinks this plant is not going to win any beauty contests while not in flower. And hey, don't they need to be kind of big (expensive, space-consuming) to make flowers? I should stop babbling about something I don't know now...

Did you mean my cactus when you said TG. Mines is a true thanksgiving cactus blooming super early

Grant...you got a winner! Very lucky find...at a florist to boot. And, yes, your CC was a steal.

What size container is your CC potted in?

Tips on growing to a monster plant.

One tip, 'Time.' Patience is the key when growing plants.

Please don't drown your lovely CC with fertilizer..Fertilize, yes, but at the proper time, and never over-fertilize..Follow container instructions...in fact, a little less is better. Toni

Wow that's pretty, Teen!

Hi Folks,

Sorry TG, while those are lovely blooms indeed, if they're on those jagged segments, they're a TC. The 'true cc' has rounded segments, not jagged, angular ones, as shown above.

Lovely & enjoy whatever its name!!

I heard it explained that the reason that there are so few Christmas cacti around is that growers want to have theirs be the first blooming plants out there so people will buy theirs first, so they stick with working with the Thanksgiving cacti which bloom sooner. So the true Christmas cactus languishes with little attention and development of hybrids. I don't know if this is true, but it is something that I heard said.

Ok, I have a tough one. I'm rescuing this poor Thanksgiving or Christmas cactus from a friend. The segments look like Christmas cactus, but the flowers and time of year it's blooming indicate Thanksgiving cactus. See pics. What do you think?

Pic of flower.

Hi Laura..Your plant looks like a true CC to me.

Regarding early flowers.

I don't know how you forced your CC to bloom...let's say it was kept outside.

Once CC or TC are brought indoors, heat encourages buds to grow larger and flower quicker..on the flip side, heat also begets blooms to fade faster.

Therefore, if someone lived in an area where days were barely warm, 'not hot' enough to keep, let's say TC outdoors during daylight with cooler nights, most likely TC would flower nearer to Thanksgiving. Same applies to Christmas Cactus.

My TC's started budding in Oct. I prayed they wouldn't open until Thanksgiving. Well, flowers are opened...now if they only remain until Thanksgiving Day.

I've never had a true CC, but I think the process works the same way. Too warm, flowers open and die. Kept cooler, they take their time.

Then again, TC's have been known to bloom in July..lol. One of the hottest months of the year.

Anyway, your new holiday plant looks like CC. CC are hard to come by so thank your friend, count your blessings and blooms. :) Toni

Hi Laura
Sorry but,
What you have is Not a true CC, (1)Wrong color,(2)your flower and buds curve up and out while the True CC hangs down, like a bell. (3) Some of the segments have the hooks) and some don't so you may have a variety of hybrid from England called "The Queens" i haven't seen any of those so i can't say for sure but google Queens Christmas Cactus and you should get some pic.
cliff

I have seen one similar plant on ebay recently which the seller had in all honesty posted as true CC. His juvenile plants had rounded/scalloped segments, but the mature upper segments were blocky and had small points.

This begs the question, are these hybrids even rarer than original cc? They seem to be fairly close to the traditional cc in leaf shape, only the flowers and some errant points have given the game away.

Who out there in the gardenweb grows hybrids which look like this?

Pretty exciting thinking I might have something rare.

Night...can you find the completed listing on eBay? I've looked all over and can't seem to find one similar to mine. I know it is at least 15 years old according to my friend.

Laura,
Here is a link to someones page pertaining to some of these type hybrids
cliff

Here is a link that might be useful: Orissiani Hybrid link

Laura,
Here is a link to someones page pertaining to some of these type hybrids
cliff

Here is a link that might be useful: Orissiani Hybrid link

Laura,
Here is a link to someones page pertaining to some of these type hybrids
cliff

Here is a link that might be useful: Orissiani Hybrid link

great link, fascinating stuff. thanxs.lots of interesting info everybody. love to read and cut 'n paste, cut'n paste...

Sorry about the duplicate posts, but i kept getting a error message and it said to try again.
Which i did!!
cliff

I dont see any hooks on that plant, i see Ariel roots. A CC?

Larry,
The line of segments above the large bloom 2nd from end has hooks on the end,line underneath 2nd from end has hooks on end over in left lower corner the light colored segment has hooks to the left and above that is a dark 1 with the end hooks. look at the large bud in center where it is attached, it curve up and out. these are traits of the Truncata.
the stems look bigger to me also. I still think it is 1 of the Queen variety Hybrid. There are at least 50 different 1's.
Seldom seen here but since they were developed in England you would be able to see more.
Here is link to aepi site.
cliff

Here is a link that might be useful: Queens Hybrids

Must be a hybrud. Someone also mentioned the anthers are purple on CCs,yyet these are yellow like my TC.

I am so new to all of this but I desperately want a TRUE CC. Anyone know where I can buy one online. I know I live in a big city (Houston) but all I have seen around here are TC. Can anyone recomend where I can order a CC??

Thanks,
Linda / Houston

Linda,
Very unlikely you will find 1 of these in a store. There are 3 on Ebay now. 1 plant at $50.00 right now ends tomorrow and i saw 2 diff sellers with cuttings for sale,
below is a link for 1 and just go to ebay's plants section and search for xmas cactus.
cliff

Here is a link that might be useful: Xmas Cactus

I have done some crossing of true CC and Thanksgiving cacti. I have lots of colors and bloom time differences in the offspring. When they get more buds open I was going to make a post about them. I think what Laura has is a cross between a true CC and a Thanksgiving cacti. I have one that is similar, a cross between a white Zygo and my true CC, I also have one that is a cross between a Limelight Zygo and true CC and it is similar, and they both have the early bloom time. I have one that is a cross between the true CC and a red Zygo that has the late bloom time. It doesn't have buds this year, at least not yet. My true CC has buds now, and many of my Zygos bloom for Halloween. I can't send anything in the mail now, it is too cold. But if Linda emails me and is willing to wait until next May I could send cuttings of true CC. A woman on the C&S forum just bought a very large old true cc on Craigslist. It's pretty neat.

Here is a link that might be useful: True CC scored.

I think this is what everyone is referring to as a true Christmas cactus? The flowers are symmetrical - the pistils and stamens are centered, not coming out the bottom. And I guess they do hang down.

I got this plant as a cutting from someone I was babysitting for back in 1968. It's been moved, neglected, divided, etc and it's still here. Summers outside, under lights in the winter. For about 20 years it never bloomed at all; since then it blooms every year even though I'm not very consistant about the lighting. Actually I suspect it started blooming when I moved to a place where it could spend the summers outdoors - by the time it came in it had had enough long nights to set the buds.

It's an awkward, ungainly plant but the flowers make it worth it. They're beautiful.

WW

Well, the upload option didn't work, and I haven't looked at my Photobucket account in ages and there's something really weird going on over there, too, but lets try this:

{{gwi:112940}}

Very nice CC there^ !

Aseed..it was actually me who scored the large CC on Craigslist. :)

I need to nurture this hybrid. This poor thing has been so neglected. In the spring, it will be repotted in the gritty mix and will spend the summer outside for probably the first time ever. I'm hoping that it will look 1000 times better next year.

Oh! I'm embarrassed! I didn't even go back and look at the link I posted! I bet the hybrid will do well in your care. Some people recommend the 5-1-1 or even straight bark over the gritty for epiphytes. Well, you will have two nice plants then. Great job! If their bloom times ever overlap you could try to pollinate one and the other and see if seed pods form. They might be too close genetically, though.

WW-that looks like a CC to me, or very close to it. The seed capsule would be ridged as well.

cahac, I appreciated looking at the link you posted. The orissianis are new to me, and others might like to look at it as it gives a pretty good description of the differences between the cacti. Thanks.