Epiphytic Cacti

The Epiphytic Plant Study Group (EPSG) tends to specialise in the epiphytic cacti.  This is because the group originated in a round robin of the then National Cactus and Succulent Society (UK) in the 1960's.  Epiphytes was originally published and edited for the first four volumes by A.J.S. McMillan (Mac).   Publication then ceased until it was restarted in 1980 with the intention of promoting interest in the epiphytic cacti.  

Most people when thinking of cacti think of the terrestrial or desert cacti.  Few realise that many species in the Cactaceae are adapted to the epiphytic habit and are often found growing on trees in tropical rain forests.   But it is these epiphytic cacti which have become the most popular and successful of houseplants.  How many homes have the common Christmas cactus, Schlumbergera x buckleyi for instance.  Although it is a very common plant, few realise that it is in fact an hybrid raised in the 1840's in Tooting, London, between the two Brazilian species, Schlumbergera russelliana and Schlumbergera truncata.  Even fewer people know that many other schlumbergeras were raised at that time and some of these are still to be found today.

Disocactus macranthus