Crab Cactus
Schlumbergera truncata (Haw.) Moran
- light
- Part sun
- water
- Medium
- tall
- 27 cm
- wide
- 46 cm
Cactaceae
Also called False Christmas cactus, Thanksgiving Cactus
Formerly Cactus truncatus, Cereus truncatus, Epiphyllum altensteinii, Epiphyllum delicatum, and 12 more
When it flowers
Not known yet in the tropics: too few flowering observations to read a season from.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- Succulent epiphyteKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- Wet tropicalKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- SE. BrazilKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Part shade (3 to 6 h)Read from NC State Extension, one source
- Height
- 23 cm to 30 cmRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Spread
- 30 cm to 61 cmRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Water
- Average: moist, well drainedRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Flowers
- White, orange, red, pink, purpleRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Coldest it survives
- -1.1 °C (USDA zone 10a)Read from NC State Extension, one source
Not known yet: heat, hottest it survives.
In other languages (12)
- Chinese
- 蟹爪蘭, Hong kong, 蟹爪兰
- French
- Cactus de Noël
- Russian
- Шлюмбергера усечённая
- Japanese
- カニサボテン, 蝦蛄葉仙人掌
- Polish
- Szlumbergera ucięta, Zygokaktus ucięty, Epifyllum ucięte
- Swedish
- novemberkaktus
- Portuguese
- Flor-de-Maio, Cambaia-flor-de-maio, Flor-de-seda
- Chinese (China)
- 蟹爪兰
- Lithuanian
- Tikrasis plokštenis
- Finnish
- marraskuunkaktus
- Slovak
- šlumbergera uťatá
- Turkish
- Yılbaşı Çiçeği
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- NC State Extension, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA 4.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA
- 3D model: Schlumbergera truncata (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.