Legend has it there are Schlumbergera, better known as Christmas or Holiday cactus that become family heirlooms passed on from generation to generation. The gift that keeps giving. I know this to be true and it creates pressure for those receiving the inheritance. You don’t want to be the one breaking the cycle of care for the beloved family species. In the wild, the species of Schlumbergera grow either on trees (epiphytic) or on rocks making them very different from what you would normally consider a cactus. The stems are composed of segments. The segments are strongly flattened cladodes which means a flattened leaf-like stem with “wings.” The modern genus Schlumbergera is credited to Charles Lemaire in the mid 1800’s. It is named after Frédéric Schlumberger, who had a collection of cacti at his chateau near Rouen France.
