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| The bright red fruits of Tasajillo are present at holiday time, giving it an alternate common name of Christmas Cactus. |
While many people are familiar with the tropical, non-native species of Christmas Cactus (Schlumbergera sp.) often sold as houseplants, not all are aware that we have a native Christmas Cactus (Cylindropuntia leptocaulis) here in Texas. Our Christmas Cactus, also called Tasajillo, Pencil Cactus, Christmas Cholla, and Desert Christmas Cactus, is a true cactus much more adapted to our types of soils and climate. Common in the central and western parts of Texas, this plant’s species name, leptocaulis, means ‘slender-stemmed’, and it is a very good descriptor of its form.
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| Unlike many other cactus species, the flower of our native Christmas Cactus is small, at only one half-inch across. |
Upright, shrub-like, with many branches made up of slender, cylindrical jointed segments, this 2 to 5 foot tall plant is most often found growing in sandy or bottomland soils, having a trunk or main stem up to 4 inches in diameter with thicket-forming stems that exhibit various shades of green and feature a solid, woody internal core. While occasionally spineless, it typically has very slender, 1-inch grayish-white spines grouped with much tinier spines, along each stem. Botanists now think that two forms grow in Texas, a ‘long-spine’ form and a ‘short-spine’ form. Its leaves are very small, often not even noticed before they fall early in the growing season. Small, pale, yellow-green flowers appear at irregular intervals in April/May and July/August, opening in late afternoon or evening. But the true color display occurs in December, when its fruits turn conspicuously bright red and seemingly cover the plant like it has been festooned for the holiday season.
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| Christmas Cactus, short-spined growth form. |
Christmas Cactus can grow from seed, but it is much more likely to spread by cloning. The jointed stems can easily detach without harming the rest of the plant, and they are dotted with areoles, a structural feature of cacti that contain buds. All a stem needs to do is come in contact with the right soil, and it can take root and grow a whole new plant.
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| Christmas Cactus, long-spined growth form. |
While the Christmas Cactus can be a nuisance if it develops in the wrong areas, it can also provide desirable value to wildlife and to humans. Growing best under the protection of other vegetation, it offers dense cover for a variety of nesting birds and provides a good food source for white-tailed deer, bobwhite, wild turkey, most bird species, and many small mammals. In West Texas, this plant is a larval host plant for the beautiful Staghorn Cholla Moth. From a human perspective, Christmas Cactus has a good ornamental value in a mostly xeric landscape, as it stands out in the bleak winter landscape, adorned with red fruit when most other vegetation is bare.
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| Staghorn Cholla Moth |
Several sources describe the fruits of the Christmas Cactus as edible, even intoxicating. But they are so small, and the spines so troublesome, that the plant usually yields only a sporadic nibble to the curious human. Nevertheless, native tribes made it part of their traditional diet, noting that the fruits, also called tunas, are vaguely sweet with a taste similar to the fruit of a prickly pear cactus.
Take the time to get to know our native Christmas Cactus and consider adding it to your wildscape. You will easily learn to fall in love with its prickly nature, especially at Christmas time!
