PlantFiles: Easter Cactus
Hatiora gaertneri

I've had this one for about six years, in a bathroom, low light for 2 years now, before that in my kitchen with good lighting, I have forgotten to water it many time, always puts out new leaves, a treasure to me, no blooms since I acquired it, now outside it looks so happy and thru information from Dave's wonderful group, I know it will bloom happily outdoors! Thanks.

I consider my cactus "Mothers Day". It always blooms the week of Mothers Day.

First we had the Christmas Cactus (Schlumbergera bridgesii), then came the Thanksgiving Cactus (Schlumbergera truncata) and the Spring or Easter Cactus (Rhipsalidopsis gaertneri). They are named after the seasons of their blooming.

Previously, the botanists used to call them Zygocactus.
These hybrids, with their rather unique flower arrangement, have been in cultivation since early in the 1800s and have had sporadic surges of popularity. The 1990s was just the latest.

Very different from the desert cacti, Christmas Cactus, Thanksgiving Cactus and Easter Cactus require high humidity and moisture, since their forest dwelling Epiphyte ancestors actually live in the branches of trees in the rainforests of southeastern Brazil. Only recently has a specimen of the Thanksgiving Cactus been found in the mountains of Domingos Martins in the state of Espirito Santo in Brazil to show that the spread is wider than thought in 1991.

The shape of the flowers clearly suggests Hummingbird pollination. The waxy flowers now come in the following colors: pale pink, magenta, red, purple, lavender, orange and white.