Last workweek , I dropped in to see one of my daughter ’s former teacher . The teacher has a quick , sunny schoolroom with an array of brandish potted plant on the windowsill . It was a midwinter dainty to see such luxurious geranium and aloes . I just lose the blooming period of a great jasmine , but from the size of it , I am certain that its fragrancy better the indoor air quality in the intact north last of the school building .
As I was looking at the aloes , the teacher luff to a medium - size specimen on the same windowsill . I could tell from the sarcoid , stem - like leaves that the plant life was some form of cactus , but it had no spines at all . The plant ’s world-wide constellation and its droopy leaves gave it something of the appearing of a Christmas cactus ( Schlumbergera bridgesii ) , but the leaves were not segmented like those of that democratic holiday - season specimen . At a departure , I demand the instructor what the plant was .
“ I do n’t know , ” she replied , “ I got it from another teacher who got it from a relation who subsist in France . ” The teacher went on to say that the cactus had blossom earlier in the twelvemonth , though it had never flower for its giver . The cactus itself is interesting , but rather nondescript in appearance . Its real glory , enjoin my daughter ’s teacher , came when it was in bloom . The classroom specimen had bourgeon twelve expectant blossoms from the leaves . Each blossom , enounce the instructor was “ lily - corresponding . ”
My curiosity was piqued , and I offer to try and find out the identity operator of the closed book cactus . The instructor , in bend , offered me a cut . I never deform down a free plant , so I accepted it eagerly , brought it home , potted it up in the same ordinary soil that endorse the schoolhouse plant , and wait further developments . Then I sat down to do the research .
Checking my comprehensive horticultural encyclopedia , I looked up “ Schlumbergera ” , to see whether the plant was some alien mintage of Christmas cactus . It appeared that all Christmas cacti are segmented , ruling out that theory . Next I turned to the net , reach the good search engine for things horticultural . I put in many different Good Book combinations , including “ flowering cactus ” , which was too broad by far , yield me information on everything from prickly pear cacti to giant Carnegiea gigantea . Then I tried “ indoor ” combined with “ flowering cactus ” . This gave me a number of hit , but I concentrate on ones with picture , hoping to recover a match for the enigma cactus . I plant out that most of the website with pictures contained exposure of cactus blossoms rather than the leafage or plant configurations . Since I had never actually seen a blossom of the mystery story cactus , this was very little help . Still , it was exalt to see all those gorgeous blossoms . I put the pot with the press clipping in it on top of the computer stand and continued my hunting .
