Floral Friday: Thanksgiving & Christmas Cacti

Thanksgiving cacti (Schlumbergera truncata) and Christmas cacti (Schlumbergera x buckleyi) are two plants with often mistaken identities because they generally look pretty much the same. Instead of leaves, they have segments, called phylloclades, and that's where you can identify the different varieties. (Patty at Almost Heaven Farm offers an in-depth post on what to look for in the leaves and the flowers.)

I own two Thanksgiving cactuses (identifiable by their tooth-like segments) and one plant identified as a Christmas cactus, but the leaves do not look as scalloped and rounded as I'd expect to find them— so maybe I have three Thanksgiving cactuses after all.

Two are blooming on this Floral Friday, which also happens to be Houseplant Appreciation Day, too.

A recent addition to the houseplant gang, with a plant tag that says Christmas cactus, but I suspect might be Thanksgiving cactus after all. Either way, it's still pretty, and blooming.