SCHLUMBERGERA RUSSELLIANA
(or ZYGOCACTUS)
(or CHRISTMAS CACTUS)
photo 2/9
taken on: 2016/02/23
During a watering in my greenhouse, at the end of February 2016, I had the surprise to note that the plant that I was cultivating since 2010 had just made its first floral buds.
Funny period for a Christmas Cactus!
There was no more doubt for the identity: according to the date of formation of the floral buds, abnormally late for a Schlumbergera, the ribbed shape of the ovary of the large bud and very small size of the stems of the plant, it was most probably the botanical Schlumbergera: Schlumbergera russelliana. In the "worst" case, it was a hybrid of this plant with another Schlumbergera.
There was nothing more to do but to expect the bloom and its opening. The open bloom would or not confirm, according to its form, that it was indeed the supposed plant and not a hybrid of this plant with another Schlumbergera. I will return to this point in detail with the photographs which follow.
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