1. Christmas Cactus blooms around the winter holidays

2. A Thanksgiving Cactus, which is the same genus (Schlumbergera) as a true Christmas Cactus but a different species, has leaves with curved, pointed “teeth,” whereas the Christmas Cactus has rounder leaves

3. She peered at the Christmas cactus she had bought for Alan and decided it looked distinctly sorry for itself.

4. The Christmas Cactus is named so because it blooms near the Christmas season when the days are much shorter

5. The Thanksgiving and Christmas Cactus are both members of the Schlumbergera family, while the Easter Cactus is a Rhipsalidopsis

6. Note that not all Cacti are desert Cacti, as there is a group of Cacti known as jungle Cacti that grow in tropical rainforests, which includes the Christmas cactus, epiphytic Cacti such as Rhipsalis, and the night-blooming Hylocereus