Russell Brazilian Christmas Cactus, Wild Parent of Cultivated Hybrids

Summary: Russell Brazilian Christmas cactus, with two related southeast Brazilian wild cacti, outsources cultivated hybrids to the world's holiday plant-lovers.

Schlumbergera russelliana; July 20, 2011: Laura Chinelli (Cola borator), CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Russell Brazilian Christmas cactus accommodates holiday plant-lovers as one of six wild endemics in coastal and near-coastal mountainous southeast Brazil and as one of four co-parents to beloved, commercially successful, cultivated hybrids.

Cloud-forest (mata de neblina) occurrences at three locations within a 540.45-square-mile (1,400-square-kilometer) area at 4,365.09- to 6,561-68-foot (1,300- to 2,000-meter) altitudes above sea level bespeaks vulnerability. Clean air, natural resources, prime locations, pristine environment, scenic views and unique vegetation characterize high-altitude, wild Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. They draw builders and occupants of holiday homes, collectors of exotic animals and plants, loggers of Mata Atlântica (Atlantic Forest) trees and wildlife-lovers of jungle ecotourism.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) enters endangered status alerts for Russell Brazilian Christmas cactus because of all the collecting, developing, logging and touristing.

Russell cactus sometimes falls to humus-rich forest floors of the Parque Nacional da Serra dos Órgãos from niches on rocks as epiliths or trees as epiphytes.

Light-filtered, moisture-rich southeast Brazil's Russell cacti get hormones and nutrients from ground-, rock-, tree-embedded roots and hormones and photosynthates from branching, leafless, jointed stems called cladodes. Edge- and end-ensconced notches on the 0.39- to 1.49-inch- (1- to 3.8-centimeter-) long, 0.32- to 0.79-inch- (0.8- to 2.0-centimeter-) wide segments hold specialized structures called areoles. Each areole, with 0.19-inch- (5-millimeter-) long bristles, is home for the Russell cactus's flower buds and 1.58- to 1.97-inch- (4- to 5-centimeter-) long, red-purple, regular flowers.

Russell Brazilian Christmas cactus joins pink-shaded petals and sepals, called tepals, into inner and outer series on its vivid flowers hanging downward in a radial symmetry.

The flower within a flower look during Russell cactus bloom times keeps inner, longer tepals basally fused into a hummingbird-friendly, 1.18-inch- (3-centimeter-) long, nectar-filled floral tube.

The inner series of two sets of pale pink stamens with pink pollen-filled anthers lounge around a dark pink style with a six- to eight-lobed stigma. The outer series of the two sets merge into the floral tube for efficient nectaring and pollinating from February to April in naturalization-friendly, Northern Hemisphere niches. Russell cactus, described by Sir William Jackson Hooker (July 6, 1785-Aug. 12, 1865), nurtures four- to five-ribbed, red fruits and dark brown, 0.04-inch (1-millimeter) diameter seeds.

Russell Brazilian Christmas cactus, named by Nathaniel Lord Britton (Jan. 15, 1859-June 25, 1934) and Joseph Nelson Rose (Jan. 11, 1862-May 4, 1928), occasions natural hybridization.

The cloud-forest proximity of Russell and truncated cacti prompt wild hybridization while their respective importations in Europe by 1818 and 1839 provoke cultivated hybridization in 1832.

Schlumbergera russelliana, for Frédéric Schlumberger (April 19, 1823-Feb. 18, 1893) and for John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford (July 6, 1766-Oct. 20, 1839), qualifies as co-parent. Buckley hybrids, Schlumbergera x buckleyi, cultivated by William Buckley in 1852 and named by William Louis Tjaden and T. Moore, reveal Russell and truncated cacti inputs. The Eprica cultivated hybrid, Schlumbergera x eprica, named by Frank Süpplie for the Epiphytic Plant Research and Information Centre, show traits from Orssich and Russell cacti, Brazilian relatives and co-parents.

Exacting, wild Russell Brazilian Christmas cactus tests a gardener's expertise and therefore tends toward high-profile, lucrative existence as a cultivated hybrid and in its cultivated varieties.

Schlumbergera russelliana as Epiphyllum russellianum; color lithograph by Walter Hood Fitch (Feb. 28, 1817-Jan. 14, 1892): Sir William Jackson Hooker, Curtis's Botanical Magazine (1840), Vol. LXVI, Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Schlumbergera russelliana; July 20, 2011: Laura Chinelli (Cola borator), CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Schlumbergera_russelliana.JPG

Schlumbergera russelliana as Epiphyllum russellianum; color lithograph by Walter Hood Fitch (Feb. 28, 1817-Jan. 14, 1892): Sir William Jackson Hooker, Curtis's Botanical Magazine (1840), Vol. LXVI, Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/466424

For further information:

Britton, N.L. (Nathaniel Lord); J.N. (Joseph Nelson) Rose. 1923. "2. Schlumbergera russelliana (Gardner) Britton and Rose." The Cactaceae: Descriptions and Illustrations of Plants of the Cactus Family. Vol. IV: 184-185. Washington DC: The Carnegie Institution of Washington.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/cactaceaedescri04brit/#page/184/mode/1up

Hooker, Sir William Jackson Hooker. 1840. "Epiphyllum Russellianum, the Duke of Bedford's Epiphyllum." Curtis's Botanical Magazine; or Flower Garden Displayed. Vol. LXVI (new series XIII): 3717. London, England: Edward Couchman.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/466424

McMillan, A.J.S.; and Horobin, J.F. 1995. Christmas Cacti: The Genus Schlumbergera and Its Hybrids. Sherbourne, Dorset: David Hunt.

"Schlumbergera russelliana." Encyclopedia of Life.
Available @ http://eol.org/pages/5184924/data

"Schlumbergera russelliana (Hook.) Britton & Rose." Tropicos® > Name Search.
Available @ http://www.tropicos.org/Name/5107374

"Schlumbergera russelliana (Hooker) Britton and Rose, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 16: 261. (1913)." Rhipsalis.com.
Available @ http://www.rhipsalis.com/species/russeliana.htm

Taylor, N.P.; and Zappi, D. 2013. "Schlumbergera truncata." The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013: e.T152554A650443. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T152554A650443.en.
Available @ http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/152554/0