Schlumbergera Samba Brazil

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Schlumbergera plant, botanically known as Schlumbergera truncata (Haworth) Moran., commonly known as Thanksgiving Cactus, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name `SAMBA BRAZIL`.

Schlumbergera (formerly Zygocacatus) of the Cactaceae family consists of 6 known species which are epiphytic cacti and native to Brazil. Common names for Schlumbergera plants include: Crab Cactus for the cultivar's claw-like phylloclade margin, Thanksgiving Cactus for cultivars which bloom in November, and Christmas Cactus for cultivars which bloom in December.

The new Schlumbergera cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the inventor, Lau Lindegaard RASMUSSEN, in Fyn, Demark. The objective of the breeding program was to develop a new Schlumbergera cultivar with excellent branching habit and large, upright flowers with a unique color combination.

The new Schlumbergera cultivar originated from an outcrossing made by the inventor, Lau Lindegaard RASMUSSEN, in 2001 in Fyn, Demark. The female or seed parent is the Schlumbergera truncata `SALSA DANCER` (unpatented, disclosed in EU-CPVO No. 2004/1247). The male or pollen parent is an Schlumbergera truncata `8620A` (unpatented). The new Schlumbergera cultivar was discovered and selected by the inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated outcrossing in a controlled environment in 2003 in Fyn, Denmark, on the basis of its flower color and its fairly compact and freely branching habit. Plants of the new Schlumbergera are more upright, and have a unique color combination of the flowers combined with healthy, shiny green phyllocladia and excellent branching.

Asexual reproduction of the new Schlumbergera cultivar by phylloclade cuttings, followed by trial production batches, was first performed in January of 2004 in Fyn, Denmark, and has demonstrated that the combination of characteristics as herein disclosed for the new cultivar are firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of asexual reproduction. The new cultivar reproduces true to type.