Schlumberger

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Schlumberger (lat. Schlumbergera) is a small genus of cacti living in the wild on trees or rocks, belongs to the tribe Rhipsalideae (lat. Rhipsalideae), belonging to the subfamily Cactus (lat. Cactoideae) of the same family Cactus (lat. Cactaceae). According to some reports, there are only six plant species in the genus. Most of the Schlumberger species, instead of the leaves usual for plants, have stems that look like leaf-shaped pads, connected to each other, and flowers emerging from the articulations of these pads, or born at the ends of the stems.

What's in your name

The genus Schlumberger owes its name to the French taxonomy of the plant world, Charles Antoine Lemaire, years of life (01.11.1800 - 22.06.1871). It is believed that Lemaire dedicated this name to the Frenchman, who continued to collect the collection of cacti, begun by his father. The name of this person is Frederick Schlumberger, (1823-19-04 - 1893-18-02). However, due to the different spelling of the surname in different printed sources, which differ in only one letter, other versions of people who were awarded this honor arose. In any case, Frederic Schlumberger is most often referred to.

The plants of the genus have many popular names. In their homeland, in Brazil, the genus is called "Flor de Maio" ("May flower"), because there flowering occurs in the month of May. Since plants in the Northern Hemisphere of our planet prefer to show their flowers in the winter season, people call them "Decembrist", "Thanksgiving Cactus" or "Christmas Cactus".

Description

In the wild tropics of southeastern Brazil, plants of the Schlumberger genus grow on powerful tropical trees, or on the cliffs of coastal mountains, where, as a rule, there is high air humidity and enough shady places for the life of epiphytic cacti, which get their food and moisture from the air. Their appearance is very different from their thorny relatives in the Cactaceae family growing in deserts.

Most of the species of the genus have stems resembling leaf-shaped pads, connected to each other by narrow knots-bridges. The two species are more like other cacti, with cylindrical succulent stems.

If in most terrestrial plants the leaves are the photosynthetic organ, then in plants of the Schlumberger genus this role is played by the stems. The pads or stem segments take one of two forms. The first form, characteristic of most species of the genus, is strongly flattened segments (the so-called cladodia), consisting of a central core with 2-3 "wings". Special structures called "areoles" are formed at the ends of the segments. In the second form, the stems are less flattened, closer to the shape of a cylinder, and "areoles" are located not at the ends of the segments, but along the entire segment, more or less in a spiral. Both forms of "areola" must be present in the place where the flower bud appears and may have hair or bristles.

Flowers are born at the junctions of leaf-shaped pads, or are located at the ends of the stems, emerging from the "areola". They can be drooping to the surface of the ground or window sill in indoor plants, or they can be located more or less horizontally. The color of the flowers has a fairly rich palette, including white, yellow, pink, orange, purple or red. Each flower is composed of 20-30 petals. Closer to the base of the flower, there are unconnected short outer petals. The inner petals are located towards the tip of the flower. They are longer than the outer ones and gradually become more and more fused at the base, forming a flower tube. In some species, the difference between inner and outer petals gives the impression of a “flower within a flower”.

For plants of the Schlumberger genus, a distinctive feature is the two-row arrangement of numerous stamens, which gives the flowers a special charm.

Fertilized flowers turn into black or brown seeds up to one millimeter in diameter.