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People often don’t know the difference between a Christmas cactus, a Thanksgiving cactus, and an Easter cactus. Even garden centers sometimes make a mistake and put the wrong label on a Thanksgiving cactus, calling it a Christmas cactus or mislabel the Easter cactus as one of the others. So the question is, how can we tell the difference between these cacti?
Once you know the differences between these cacti the answer is clear. And knowing the difference can help you when purchasing one of these beautiful plants.
You can tell the difference between a Christmas, Thanksgiving, or Easter cactus mainly by the shape of its leaves. Christmas cacti leaves are scalloped and rounded on the edge, Thanksgiving cacti have spiky leaves and Easter cacti have rounded, scalloped leaves with hairs on the end.
There are actually two other ways you can tell whether you have a Christmas cactus, a Thanksgiving cactus, or an Easter cactus.
Knowing how to identify one from the others can help you when purchasing one of these plants, especially if you want a Thanksgiving cactus and are expecting it to bloom in November, or a Christmas cactus and are expecting it to bloom in December. Or an Easter cactus and expect it to bloom around Easter time. So here are some ideas on how to identify which of the three you are looking at.
I consider these to be among the easiest cacti to bloom indoors.
There are some others that bloom easily too and you can read about them here, if you are interested.
How to Identify Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter Cactus
The first way you can tell the difference between these three types of cacti is by the shape of their leaves and the plant’s overall shape.
The Thanksgiving cactus has leaves that are spikier, and the spikes give it an almost claw-like appearance, in fact, this plant is often called a crab cactus. The stems of this plant grow more upright than a Christmas cactus’ stems.
The Christmas cactus has leaves that are slightly notched (or deeply scalloped) in appearance and are rounded on the ends. The leaves are also thinner than those on a Thanksgiving cactus.
The Christmas cactus’ overall appearance is slightly different than that of a Thanksgiving cactus in that it tends to grow upright at first, but as the plant reaches maturity, the stems tend to droop downward.
The Easter cactus has leaves that are similar to the Christmas cactus, but the scallops are not as deep. The scallops on the Easter cactus are more rounded but have fine hairs on the ends of the leaf.
The Easter cactus tends to be the smaller of the three holiday cacti. It has an upright appearance, but the stems will tend to droop downward over time as it matures, similar to the Christmas cactus.
The second way you can tell the difference between these cacti is by the appearance of their blooms.
The Thanksgiving cactus and the Christmas cactus blooms are similar. The flowers on the Thanksgiving cactus are not as symmetrical around the flower tube as those on a Christmas cactus and the flowers face outward instead of downward (or drooping) like they do on the Christmas cactus.
Thanksgiving cactus’ anther and pollen are yellow. The color of the flowers can range from pink, white, and yellow, to even orange or red.
The Christmas cactus blooms are symmetrical around the flower tube and tend to droop downward just like its stem droops downward. The anthers and pollen are purple-brown in color. The color of the flowers is usually Fuschia but it can come in other colors too, such as shades of pink, white, yellow, and red.
The Easter cactus has flowers that are larger and drastically different from the other two holiday cacti. The flowers are star-shaped in appearance and come in colors ranging from red, white, and pink to orange.
The third way you can tell the difference between these cacti is by the time of year they bloom.
Each of these cacti naturally bloom at different times of the year. Of course, the blooming cycles for the Thanksgiving cactus and the Christmas cactus can be adjusted and their blooming can be forced to occur at other times of the year if the correct conditions are met. The exception to this is the Easter cactus. It tends to bloom only once a year.
The Thanksgiving cactus and the Christmas cactus both bloom late in the Fall, with the Thanksgiving cactus starting about a month earlier than the other. But their blooming times do overlap a little. That could be why some people mix up the two types of cacti, thinking that they are the same plant when they are not.
The Thanksgiving cactus will bloom starting around the middle of November to the end of December.
The Christmas cactus starts to bloom in December and can go into January.
The Easter cactus will bloom starting in early spring, from March until May.
Note: Christmas cacti are not as commonly sold in stores since they are more fragile than Thanksgiving cacti. This can be because the stems break off more easily during shipping. This could also be another reason why many people think that the Thanksgiving cactus is a Christmas cactus since so many of them are sold during the holiday season.
If you bought one of these cacti’ for the holidays and want to know how to get it to bloom again for you for the next holiday season, check out my post here on How to Make a Christmas Cactus Bloom in Time for Christmas. The method is the same whether it’s a Christmas cactus or one of the other holiday cacti.
As you will find out in that post, you won’t even have to wait for the Christmas season to see them bloom again but can make them bloom a few times a year if you provide them with the correct conditions.
Where Can I Buy These Holiday Cactus Plants?
You can easily find these holiday cactus plants in greenhouses, your local garden centers, or even in local retailers such as Walmart, especially during the holiday seasons.
You can also find them online at Amazon. There are a few selections you can check out right now, such as this Christmas cactus cutting, good for propagating your own plant, or this Thanksgiving cactus or Easter cactus.
Facts about These Three Types of Holiday Cactus Plants
| Thanksgiving Cactus | Christmas Cactus | Easter Cactus | |
| Schlumbergera Truncata | Schlumbergera Buckleyi | Rhipsalidopsis gaertneri | |
| Plant | Upright plant | Drooping plant | Upright when young Drooping when older |
| Leaves | Spiky leaves | Flat, notched leaves Rounded on ends | Flat softly scalloped leaves with hairs |
| Bloom Time | November-December | December-January | March-May |
| Flower Shape | Tubular, Mostly Symmetrical | Tubular, Symmetrical | Star-shaped |
| Flower Characteristics | Yellow anthers and upright flowers | Purple-Brown Anthers and Drooping Flowers | Flowers are Larger |
Naming throughout history: Making Sense Out of All The Name Changes
When you search the internet for these cacti, you will come across what looks like contradictory information: namely, about the scientific names of these cacti.
It seems that each of them has a couple of different names. It just doesn’t seem like the naming system is consistent.
I looked into this to find out what the correct names were for them and this is what I have found out about this issue.
The Thanksgiving cactus, the Christmas cactus, and the Easter cactus are in the cactus family and in the Schlumbergera genus. These plants, being tropical cacti, originate from Brazil where they grow between the branches of trees, or on rocks. These kinds of cacti are epiphytic which means they are plants that grow in a nonparasitic manner on other plants.
Fun fact: The Schlumbergera genus was named after a botanist called Frederic Schlumberer.
How are the Thanksgiving Cactus and the Christmas cactus related?
The Thanksgiving cactus, Schlumbergera truncata, was crossed with another cactus, a hybrid called Schlumbergera russelliana, to create a hybrid called the Christmas cactus, Schlumbergera buckleyi. This was done in 1850.
Part of the confusion today comes from the fact that the hybrid called Schlumbergera russelliana used to be called Schlumbergera bridgesii. You will still see this hybrid listed under both names, even today.
So to keep things straight in our minds… The Thanksgiving cactus, Schlumbergera truncata, and the hybrid, Schlumbergera russelliana, when crossed together were the parents of another hybrid called. The Christmas cactus, S. buckleyi.
What is The Correct Scientific Name For the Easter Cactus?
The Easter cactus has what looks like several different names, Schlumbergera gaertneri, Hatiora gaertneri, and Schlumbergera rhipsalidopsis are among them. After looking into things a little more, it seems like the name was changed a few times over the years and they have now settled on the name Schlumbergera gaertneri.
Reference for more info on how these cacti were hybridized and for more of their history: https://www.schlumbergera.net/hybridization/
References for more info on the scientific naming of the Easter Cactus:
https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:229592-2
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21236350/
This post was written for cactus-central.com and is not permitted to be used on other sites.