BCSS - Forum

Hi all, as the so called Christmas and Easter cacti are very well flowered, I wondered If there would be a benifit in trying to obtain true species to see if these are good flowering plants as well ? Thanks

They are usually a bit more tender than the hybrids which is why the hybrids have survived but the species were often lost, I got a start of both authentic S. truncata and S. russeliana from Seedlings and Cuttings.eu. You may have to wait until the growing season starts though.

http://seedlingsandcuttings.eu/

The S. truncata is said to be a collected clone from Countess Orssich in Brazil, who also collected S. orssichiana which is named after her. The cutting below flowered not long after I received it.
There is a good article on S. truncata by Graham Charles on page 12 of this link:-

http://www.cactusexplorers.org.uk/Explo ... mplete.pdf

One of the best articles showing true species of epiphytic cacti rather than hybrids is this one:-

https://www.scribd.com/presentation/556 ... ytic-Cacti

I once had the true Hatiora gaertneri (Easter cactus). It was about as difficult to grow and flower as the hybrids.

Eric,
I have various species, and later in the year, when the pods are ripe, I can let you have seed of both S. kautskyi and S. orssichiana if you remind me, and I can probably find a cutting of S. truncata.
Ralph

Forgive the mobile phone picture quality, but here is my S opuntioides (ex Ralph) flowering in my warm greenhouse. This is the first bud to fully develop. I'd brought the plant indoors at Christmas, but the buds kept dropping so it was returned to its permanent home. Here, with cooler, and perhaps more stable, conditions (heater set to 10c) this bud has slowly come to flowering. Not the prettiest flower in the family, but the plant itself makes up for that with its special appearance.

My S. opuntioides has flowered well this year in its new (greenhouse) home, and with stronger light, is becoming a much spinier, upright plant. The S. orssichiana plants are looking better too.