Any Schlumbergera spp. fanatics here?

[Carl]

Ralph I have the one sold on the website above as "small clone" which is probably Ehlers if you can spare a bit of your normal sized Schlumbergera russelliana, if your interested?

I'm planning to use an old vivarium for my Schlumbergera species once I get it sorted out

Sent on the go from my telephone

[ralphrmartin]

Carl,
I dont have a normal size one, apart from the dodgy one you mentioned, sorry.
Ralph

[Carl]

Carl,
I dont have a normal size one, apart from the dodgy one you mentioned, sorry.
Ralph

Oh I see, well your more than welcome to a bit anyway

Sent on the go from my telephone

[seadragon16]

Thanks for the offer Ralph, I'd love some S. kautskyi seed, but unfortunately I've only got a very small piece of the small form russelliana that's rooted at the moment and I just got a couple of pieces from that webshop that I'm trying to graft. As soon as they take off and I can take some cuttings then you're first in line I don't know if you remember some years ago I traded you some S. exotica for some Ehlers russelliana and that's exactly what happened to it - it grew fine for a while and then the roots just disintegrated.

It's interesting to see that people are unsure about the standard russelliana from there. I received a small cutting of it as a freebie when I last ordered, but the the segments were larger than I expected.

I'd be interested in your thoughts on this plant that I was sold a few years ago as a russelliana? These aren't the greatest photos, but I was trying to show the size of the segments. The whole plant is about 6 inches across. It came from Germany and although it has set buds a few times, unfortunately they've always atrophied before they've opened.

[ralphrmartin]

Hi Caroline (and Carl)

I've sent you a private message.

As for the plant shown being S. russelliana - it's very hard to say. The joints are small, so it's plausible, although it could also be a x buckleyi - some of those also have small joints. Did the supplier give any indication of where it came from?

Maybe you can send Carl a bit of this one, Carl can send me a bit of Ehler's form, and I can send you some S. kautskyi seed, and we will all be happy!

Ralph

[DaveW]

Not had a chance to look for stem dimensions in NCL yet, but like many plants they may vary in habitat since the dimensions are usually taken from the first plant found, which may or may not be typical of the population. I suppose it depends what they considered a mature segment to measure and how conversant they were of population variation at the time, particularly if the describer was not the collector? Some of the variation in the quotes indicates they were measuring both mature and immature segment sizes.

Wikipedia quoting McMillan, A.J.S. & Horobin, J.F. (1995), Christmas Cacti : The genus Schlumbergera and its hybrids gives:-

"Schlumbergera russelliana resembles other species of the genus Schlumbergera in that it has leafless green stems which act as photosynthetic organs. The stems (cladodes) are composed of strongly flattened segments, which have a small number of notches along their edges. Individual segments are about 1–3.8 cm (0.4–1.5 in) long by 0.8–2.0 cm (0.3–0.8 in) wide.

Special structures characteristic of cacti, called "areoles", occur in the notches at the side of a segment and at the end. The areoles, which bristles up to 5 mm (0.2 in) long, are where the flower buds appear. The flowers hang downwards and are radially symmetrical (regular). They are about 5 cm (2.0 in) long by 3–4 cm (1.2–1.6 in) across. The tepals, which are of various shades of pink, are arranged in two groups, giving the appearance of a "flower within a flower". The inner tepals are longer and fused together at the base to form a floral tube about 3 cm (1.2 in) long; nectar is produced at the base of this tube. Plants flower in the spring; when cultivated in the Northern Hemisphere the flowering period is February to April.

A characteristic of the genus Schlumbergera is that the many stamens are arranged in two series: the inner stamens form a ring around the style; the outer stamens arise from the floral tube. The stamens are pale pink with pink pollen. The style has six to eight lobes at its end and is darker pink.

The fruit is greenish-yellow, with four to five ribs. The shiny seeds are dark brown, each with a diameter of about 1 mm (0.04 in)."

from the quote below:-

"Its stems have a rounded form (looking like the form of the stems of the Easter Cacti) and are the smallest stems of all Schlumbergera. Books of reference mention that they are 2.5 cm long and 1 cm wide."

http://cactus-epiphytes.eu/z_page_schlum_russell.htm

http://cactus-epiphytes.eu/z_page_schlum_truncata.htm

http://cactus-epiphytes.eu/z_page_schlum_orssich.htm

[Carl]

I've looked at those descriptions and photo's in the McMillan & Horobin book and I can honestly say I am no closer to being able to correctly differentiate between Schlumbergera x buckleyi and Schlumbergera russelliana I think it's one of those things were you have to have already known samples of each to compare in person... I've also just found a small rooted cutting of Schlumbergera russelliana in my collection which I had forgotten from Mark Preston so that was nice I still like Ralphs idea though!

Sent on the go from my telephone

[ralphrmartin]

Hi Anders

would you like some S. kautskyi seed?

Ralph

[seadragon16]

Thanks Dave, that's great information. The segment size certainly fits. I'll try and take some better photos.

Ralph/Carl - sounds like a great idea to me. Not sure how long before I'm allowed to send PM's on here but my email address is seadragon416@gmail.com so send me a message and we can exchange addresses. I've got a small rooted oiece of the plant above and I can take some cuttings too.

[DaveW]

I emailed David Hunt regarding the S, russelliana put out under his number and this is his reply:-

"Hi Dave

I've heard this complaint before. So far as I know, Hunt 6484 is not available commercially. Unlike the hybrids it is or was not easy to grow. S. russelliana differs clearly from the hybrids as demonstrated by the photos in Succ. Pl. Res. vol. 4. The flower is somewhat smaller, perfectly regular and pendent, the segments smaller etc.

Cheers
David"