Epiphyllum orchid cactus: what is it?
Epiphyllum cactus occupies a special place among succulent plants. Many growers prefer to grow this particular flower from all types of cacti, because it is absolutely safe (from the point of view of thorns), moreover, it has a special shape and gorgeous flowering.
View characteristic
Perennial epiffillum is a fairly powerful shrub of species of forest cacti... Most often it is grown as ampel plant thanks to the green, long and drooping shoots, which quickly fill the pot in large numbers. There are varieties, the length of the stems of which reaches 70 cm or more. The shoots have an interesting structure: they are very fleshy, in some species they are flat, in others they are triangular, and in some they have a wavy edge.
There are short spines on the edges of the stems, but they are soft and painless to the touch. With age, old shoots also lose them, while at the base the flesh becomes tough and covered with a brown thin bark. With good moisture on the branches, their own roots are formed, making the cactus easy to propagate.
The epiphyllum cactus has no leaves! What many consider to be long leaf plates are the very stems.
In early summer, flowers begin to bloom at the tips of the stems and this is an absolutely amazing sight. Depending on the varieties, the tubular buds reach a diameter of 18 cm, and their length can reach 40 cm. In the presence of pollination, the cactus forms fruits with thorns. They are edible, smell like pineapple and strawberries, and are very juicy.
For the beauty of large inflorescences of the most varied colors, the epiphyllum is often called an orchid cactus, and by the origin of the plant - phyllocactus.
The most beautiful types of epiphyllum
In the wild, there are two dozen varieties of cactus of this species, but on their basis, breeders have bred another two hundred new hybrids. They can differ in both the shape of the stem and flowering.
These types of epiphyllum look very beautiful:
- Angular (anguliger). The dark green, very flat stems have a deep carved edge, which makes them look like fern leaves from afar. They are very long, up to 1 m, but narrow - a maximum of 8 cm wide. It blooms in summer with large white-pink or white-yellow inflorescences with a light aroma.
- Jagged... Long (up to 1 m) stem grows in the form of a narrow leaf with a serrated edge. Large flowers bloom at night and can be yellow, pinkish or white.
- Hooker. One of the species with arcuate shoots that bend under the weight of white inflorescences.
- Ackerman. Low (up to 60 cm) bush, triangular shoots, with light serrations. Most often there are hybrids with red flowers, although there are also white and yellow flowers among them.
Read: types of orchids with photos and names.
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