Day 37: Both of my Huernias frequently drop growth segments, but if I put every one of them down in soil to root (which they do quite readily), the limited space on my plant shelf would soon be overwhelmed. However, I feel such pangs of guilt at throwing away a perfectly viable section that I occasionally give in to the impulse to start a cutting. Over the years, I've given a dozen or so to friends, and recently one of those friends posted a photo of his in bloom. It reminded me that I had nearly missed the first flowers on my Christmas cacti because they had been on the window-facing side, so I checked Huernia. Sure enough, there was a star fully open, hiding in a nest of soft-spined stems. The raised disk in the center of the flower is what gives the species its nickname of "Lifesaver Plant," and the stripes on the bloom's pale yellow lobes supply the latter portion of its Latin appellation, Huernia zebrina.
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