Many, with a fleeting glance at the Rhipsalis indoor flower, cannot immediately understand that it is actually a cactus. It doesn’t look like a prickly succulent at all.
On the contrary, the Rhipsalis plant seems delicate, almost weightless due to its thin branches strewn with dense beads of berries or graceful flowers of a yellow or orange hue. Sometimes you can find a cactus Rhipsalis with white flowers.
How the houseplant Rhipsalis blooms
Rhipsalis (Rhipsalis) – the most characteristic genus of epiphytic cacti. On his example, the sadly paradoxical situation that has developed with epiphyte cacti is especially clearly manifested. Their distribution in culture and attention to them is much lower than what they deserve.
The point here, apparently, is that for cactus growers Ripsalis are almost not cacti, but for other flower growers they are cacti. The former avoid plants of this group as requiring completely different growing conditions than cacti proper and, most importantly, a lot of space, which is already scarce, and the latter as a cactus culture that does not fit into the general flower agricultural technology.
Both those and others, as a rule, have a very poor idea of these plants. Rhipsalis is usually judged by small twigs rooted in small pots. But the full extent of the luxurious beauty of these cacti is manifested only on large bushes, the openwork elegance of which does not leave indifferent either cactus growers or other flower growers.
Look at the photo – Rhipsalis has pronounced stem dimorphism:
The plant has main shoots – trunks and branches – usually powerful and long, although thin, and at their ends there are shoots of a different shape and size, very different in individual species: from thin and short rods to plates resembling an oak leaf.
All this variety of shades of green, with or without bristles (thorns), is strewn with delicate flowers in winter and bright beads of berries all year round. Rhipsalis at home are good as ornamental plants and are an excellent collector’s item.
They are undemanding in culture (partial shade, small flat dishes, loose nutrient substrate). They love room temperature and are content with the light from the window – these are one of the most “indoor” cacti. Spraying with water and fertilizer solutions is very beneficial for these plants.
As you can see in the photo, the beauty of the Ripsalis flower is fully manifested when grown in a hanging basket (like ampelous plants), when their branches fall freely:
Rhipsalis are usually propagated by cuttings, but they also grow well from seeds. Many Rhipsalis are excellent plants for landscaping interiors: large, undemanding.
Types of home flower Rhipsalis
The most common in room culture is Rhipsalis Rh. cereuscula (cereuscula) forms a dense three-dimensional lace of thin and short (1-2 cm) shoots of the second order growing in all directions.
The main shoots of this type of Rhipsalis are long and arched, each of them grows longer than the previous ones and brings a dense cloud of secondary shoots to a new space. In an ordinary room culture, this plant rarely blooms, and even under more suitable conditions, flowering is not abundant.
The flowers are white, up to 2 cm in diameter; the fruits do not set without cross-pollination.
A less well-known species close to the named one is Rh. pilocarpa (pilocarpa), is distinguished by more powerful, tough and not so abundantly branching shoots, covered with numerous short yellowish hairs.
How does Rhipsalis of this species bloom? In favorable conditions, this cactus is covered 2-3 times a year with a large number of rather large (about 2.5 cm in diameter) yellowish-white flowers that seem fluffy due to the numerous petals and stamens.
But that’s not all of its merit! The flowers of Ripsalis pilocarpa have a strong pleasant aroma that fills the entire room during the flowering period. If, however, the flowers of one plant are pollinated, then spherical (more than 1 cm in diameter) bright crimson fruits are soon tied, decorating these bushes no less than flowers.
The most characteristic representative of the genus Rh. baccifera (baccifera), with long thin shoots, numerous tiny flowers and white beady fruits. The latter are the main decoration of this cactus, they are formed without cross-pollination and remain on the plant for a very long time.
The graceful Rh. capilliformis (capilliformis) characteristic features of Ripsalis – thin stems and miniature flowers – are brought to the limit: their stems are incredibly thin (hence the Latin name “hairy”), and flowers reaching only a few millimeters are barely visible to the naked eye.
Pay attention to the photo – this type of Rhipsalis is especially good in adulthood, when meter-long bushes are covered with a falling, as if flowing crown of many long light green twigs-fibers:
In a number of indoor plants Rhipsalis, shoots, especially of the second order, are flat, similar to the leaves of ordinary trees. The most prominent and well-known representative of this group is Rh. pachyptera (pachyptera), in which leaf-like shoots are large (sometimes the size of an adult’s palm), dark green with a reddish tinge, shiny, with scalloped edges. Yellowish flowers up to 1.5 cm in diameter appear along the edges of these “leaves”, their main decoration is numerous stamens.
Very unusual (which is reflected in its name) Rhipsalis Rh. paradoxa (paradox), in which high ribs are divided into separate sections, alternating with flat gaps – this is difficult to explain in words, even more difficult to understand when looking at the plant, but it looks very beautiful and unusual.
As you can see in the photo, this cactus Rhipsalis has something from Chinese lanterns in the intricate arrangement of branches:
Finally, one of the most beautiful Rhipsalis should be mentioned – Rh. mesembryanthemoides (mesembryantemoides), in which short shoots of the second order sit tightly on the main ones, like needles on a Christmas tree branch. In winter, snow-white star-flowers up to 1.5 cm in diameter break through between these “needles”.
Here is a selection of photos of Ripsalis of various types:
