Property News · September 17, 2016

How to grow mistletoe cactus | Alys Fowler


It’s the perfect house cactus for the bathroom, says Alys FowlerThere is a rather lovely, but I feel rather unlikely, tale about the mistletoe cactus, Rhipsalis baccifera, and a homesick sailor. The mistletoe cactus is the only cactus that grows outside the New World. As well as America (North and South), you’ll encounter it in Sri Lanka and Africa, including the island of Madagascar. How it got from one side of the Atlantic to the other has long puzzled those who care.One suggestion is that way back when Gondwana was the supercontinent and Africa and America were one, the mistletoe cactus was already in existence. When Africa and America split, the cactus chose a home on both sides: this is known as vicariance. Or perhaps dispersal is responsible – that is, the plant, rather than the Earth, moved. Birds eat the fruit of rhipsalis (the baccifera part of the Latin name refers to its lovely white berries), so they could be the reason it’s found in both places, though that’s a long flight for a bird, and no one has found a likely feathered candidate. Continue reading…

Source : theguardian.com
Read more…How to grow mistletoe cactus | Alys Fowler

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