Crab claw orchid, fairy finger and false ephemeral flower similarity is very close, if you do not look carefully, just look at it from a distance, it is difficult to distinguish, the following is a few pictures to quickly distinguish these three plants, see which one you have at home.
It is often seen that there are flower lovers arguing about crab claw orchids and fairy fingers, and there is a kind of fake ephemeral flower (bright red fairy finger) that is more similar to them, in fact, there is no need to argue at all, because they are very different, and a picture can distinguish things.
Crab claw orchids begin to bloom around the end of November every year, immortals refer to the end of December began to bloom, and false ephemeral flowers began to bloom in mid-to-late March, their flowering time difference is not particularly large, most of them can bloom in winter and spring, depending on the local climate environment, they are in flowering before and after the Spring Festival, so they are very popular.
First look at their leaf differences, the above are the leaves of the cactus finger, crab claw orchid and false ephemeral flower, the morphology of the leaves is very different, the edge of the leaf of the cactus finger is wavy, and the leaves are relatively narrow and long;
The leaves of the crab claw orchid have small claws at the top, and the leaves are pointed and look like the small claws of a crab;
The leaves are the thickest , the leaves are dark green in color , the morphology of the leaves is oval , and there are small waves at the edges of the leaves ( with red lines at the edges of the leaves ) .
The flowers of crab claw orchid, cactus finger and false ephemeral flower are more similar, they also have different flower colors, the common ones are pink, red, white and yellow.
In general, crab claw orchids and cactus fingers will be more similar (in the same family) because they are both cactus in the genus Cactus, while the false ephemerals are of the genus Cactus (previously the pseudospanic genus Rhipsalidopsis, and the other two are of different genera).
1. Crab claw orchid (Schlumbergera truncata)
Crab claw orchid is particularly recognizable, with sharp corners on the leaves and small serrations on the leaves, which are particularly common in the market and easy to buy.
2. The Immortal Finger (Schlumbergera bridgesii)
The cactus finger was bred by hybridizing Schlumbergera russelliana and crab claw orchid (Schlumbergera truncata), which is particularly similar to the round-toothed crab claw orchid (Schlumbergera x buckleyi, with fan-shaped leaves).
The flowers of the cactus finger are generally low-hanging, the leaves appear to have no sharp corners, the edges of the leaves have no brocade edges, and the edges of the leaves are small wavy.
3. Hatiora gaertneri
The false ephemeral flower blooms later than the crab claw orchid and the fairy finger, and its flower shape and leaf shape are more similar to the form of the ephemeral flower or the arrow lotus flower, but the flower type is smaller. There are many petals of the false ephemeral flower, and the ornamentality is still good. The leaves of the false ephemeral flower are rectangular, and the edges of the leaves are small wavy.