# Anyone Else Here Into Rhipsalis?



## pitbulllady (Aug 5, 2012)

I collect _Rhipsalis_ and related epiphytic cacti, and was wondering if anyone else here was also into these.  I used to have a much-larger collection, which I parted out several years ago when I had to move, but I'm getting back into them gradually now.  Current species I have include _R. cereuscula, R. capillariformes, R. elliptica, R. rhombea, R. trigona, R. baccifera, R. baccifera horrida, R. pilocarpa, R. clavata, Hatiora salicorniodes, Lepismium cruciformes, L. warmingiana & Epiphyllum oxypetelum_, as well as a _Selenocereus mcdowelli_.  These are easy-care plants that are quite unusual as conversation pieces.

pitbulllady


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## SuperMommy (Aug 6, 2012)

I love any kind of cacti and succulents, I just have 2x X-mas cactus and 1x Easter cactus... not sure of the scientific names though.


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## pitbulllady (Aug 7, 2012)

SuperMommy said:


> I love any kind of cacti and succulents, I just have 2x X-mas cactus and 1x Easter cactus... not sure of the scientific names though.


Both of those plants are in the _Rhipsalidae_ complex.  Christmas cacti are usually hybrids and cultivars of various _Schlumbergera_ species, usually _S. epiphylliodes_ and _S. truncata_.  Easter cacti are even more closely related to the true Rhipsalis, and are classified as _Hatiora gaertneri_.  I haven't seen any Easter cacti around here for sale in a long, long time.  I used to have a couple of those, and honestly cannot remember what happened to them, and I've never been able to replace them.  I've also had no luck finding a "rat-tailed cactus", _Aporocactus flagellum_, or a mature specimen of _Selinocereus grandiflora_.  I had a huge one of those about 25 years ago and it was destroyed by Hurricane Hugo in 1989 because I honestly didn't think that the storm would amount to much and never bothered to bring the plant inside, foolish me.   I've had my _S. mcdowelli_ for at least 13 years now, and it's refused to bloom for me.  It seems to be a very slow grower compared to the other epiphytic cacti.

pitbulllady


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## pa3k_87 (Aug 10, 2012)

I used to collect cacti back when I was still living in the Philippines. I think I got Rhipsalis paradoxa (Chain cactus), and Rhipsalis baccifera (?). I got a few that kinda looks like they might belong to the Rhipsalis family, but not really sure. Other epiphytes I got were Fishbone cactus, Pithaya/Dragon fruit, and one  we called Queen of the night. Some sort of night-blooming cactus, with big white flowers, and are a bit more leafy-lookin and flat compared to the fishbone cactus. Left my collection with my aunt back there. Wonder if they survived all the monsoon going on for the past few years.


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