Xerophyte

Description

It is a slender, much-branched, creeping or epiphytic cactus cultivated as a houseplant for nearly 300 years. It one of the most popular of cacti for its ubiquity in modern collections and home use. The 'Rat's Tail' is also very free-flowering, and its long, slender stems bear multitudes of crimson-pink blooms and makes a good hanging plant. A larger specimen can be quite impressive, tumbling out of a pot, suggesting a waterfall. It is said that it deserves first place among the Cacti of easy culture.

Flowers

Borne laterally, red to purplish-pink usually 5-8 cm long, 2,5-4 cm wide, double-sided, symmetrical (zygomorphic) instead of perfectly regular and similar to that of the Christmas cactus (Zygocactus truncatusSN|2950]]SN|2950]]), limb bilaterally symmetric, upcurved and slightly oblique. Tube almost straight.

Blooming Season

It flowers in mid and late spring and bloom for several days,

Spines

9-14, tiny, bristle-like, reddish brown or reddish yellow, 4-5 mm long.

Ribs

7-12 low

Stem

Slender, vine-like, weak, ascending at first, soon prostrate or pendulous (or climbing), grey-green to fresh-green, terete, up to 1,5(-2) m (or even more) long, round in cross-section about 1-2 cm in diameter.

Fruits

Globose, red bristly, 1 cm in diameter.

Areoles

Close set 4-8 mm apart.