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Epiphyllum oxypetalum

(Dutchman´s-Pipe Cactus)

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in English:

Dutchman´s-Pipe Cactus, Dutchman's Pipe Cactus, Dutchmans Pipe Cactus, Night-Blooming Cereus, Queen of the Night

Common Names in Spanish:

Nopalillo Criollo, Reina De La Noche

Description

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Family Cactaceae

Fleshy perennials , shrubs , trees or vines , terrestrial or epiphytic. Stems jointed , terete , globose , flattened, or fluted , mostly leafless and variously spiny . Leaves alternate, flat or subulate to terete, vestigial, or entirely absent; spines, glochids (easily detached, small, bristlelike spines), and flowers always arising from cushionlike, axillary areoles (modified short shoots ) . Flowers solitary, sessile, rarely clustered and stalked (in Pereskia), bisexual , rarely unisexual , actinomorphic or occasionally zygomorphic. Receptacle tube (hypanthium or perianth tube) absent or short to elongate , naked or invested with leaflike bracts, scales , areoles, and hairs , bristles , or spines; perianth segments usually numerous , in a sepaloid to petaloid series. Stamens numerous, variously inserted in throat and tube; anthers 2-loculed, dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary (pericarpel) inferior, rarely superior, 1-loculed, with 3 to many parietal (rarely basal) placentas; ovules usually numerous; style 1; stigmas 2 to numerous, papillate , rarely 2-fid. Fruit juicy or dry, naked, scaly , hairy , bristly , or spiny, indehiscent or dehiscent , when juicy then pulp derived from often deliquescent funicles (except in Pereskia) . Seeds usually numerous, often arillate or strophiolate ; embryo curved or rarely straight; endosperm present or absent; cotyledons reduced or vestigial, rarely leaflike.

About 110 genera and more than 1000 species: temperate and tropical America; Rhipsalis baccifera (J. S. Mueller) Stearn native in tropical Africa, Madagascar, Comoros, Mascarenes, and Sri Lanka; some species of other genera now extensively naturalized in the Old World through human agency; more than 60 genera and 600 species cultivated as ornamentals or hedges in China, of which four genera and seven species more or less naturalized.[1]

Genus Epiphyllum

Shrubs , epiphytic or rarely epipetric , erect to pendent, many branched. Roots diffuse or adventitious along stems. Stems segmented , green, segments leaflike, narrowly elongate-oblanceolate, terete or 3-angled in narrow proximal portion, broadly flattened and bladelike distally, with prominent midvein-like axis, [30-]50-120+[-500] × [1.5-]4-5[-12+] cm, glabrous ; ribs 2 or, on proximal portion and on juvenile stems, 3, rib margins (crests ) crenate-undulate to shallow lobed [serrate to pinnatifid in other species]; areoles only in sinuses along rib margins (ca. 2-7 cm apart along rib), circular, woolly , stiff spines absent, sometimes fine, hairlike bristles present; areolar glands absent; cortex and pith mucilaginous . Spines usually absent from adult stems, present and slender on terete and juvenile stems. Flowers nocturnal [diurnal in 2 species], lateral on stem in marginal areoles, with long tube , salverform to funnelform , 8-38 cm; flower tube straight or strongly curved to 90°; outer tepals greenish [to yellow, white, or dull red] often tinged with red, 3-10 cm, margins entire; inner tepals white [to yellow], 3-10 cm, margins entire; ovary scaly , spineless, spiny , or with bristles or hairlike spines; scales small; stigma lobes 8-21, white, extending beyond stamens, ca. 10 mm. Fruits dehiscent along 1 side when mature , light green, red, or purple, smooth [to ridged or angular], ellipsoid to ovoid , [20-]40-100 × 20-50 mm, fleshy , spineless, spiny, or with bristles or hairlike spines; pulp white or slightly pinkish; floral remnant persistent . Seeds black, reniform , 2-3 × 1-2.5 mm; testa cells shiny or dull when minutely pitted . x = 11.

Species 19: introduced ; tropical regions of s Mexico, West Indies, Central America, n and c South America.

The spineless, leaflike stems of this epiphytic genus make it easy to overlook as a member of Cactaceae. The usually white, nocturnal flowers with long, thin flower tubes, copious nectar, and strong fragrance suggest hawkmoth pollinators for most species.[2]

Physical Description

Species Epiphyllum oxypetalum

Shrubs epiphytic, freely branched, 2-6 m tall, with aerial roots . Old stems and basal extension shoots terete , to 2 m or more, woody; branches numerous , dark green, laterally flattened, leaflike, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 15-100 × 5-12 cm, glabrous , base cuneate, attenuate, or stalked, margin undulate to deeply crenate , apex acute to acuminate; midrib 2-6 mm wide, stout. Areoles small, spineless. Flowers nocturnal , fragrant, funnelform , 25-30 × 10-27 cm. Receptacle tube 13-18 cm, base green, 4-9 mm in diam., slightly angled , with triangular to lanceolate scales 3-10 mm. Sepaloids often recurved, pale green or pinkish red, linear to oblanceolate . Petaloids white, oblanceolate to obovate , 7-10 × 3-4.5 cm. Filaments white, 2.5-5 mm; anthers cream, 3-3.5 mm. Style white, 20-22 cm; stigmas 15-20, cream, narrowly linear, 1.6-1.8 mm. Fruit rare, purplish red, oblong , ca. 16 × 5.7 cm. Seed 2-2.5 × ca. 1.5 mm. Fl. Jun-Oct. [source]

Habit: Shrub , Subshrub

Flowers: Bloom Period: March, April, May, June, July, August. • Flower Color: near white, white

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 8-10' tall.

Habitat

Escaped from cultivation in tropical areas; 1000-1200 m [3].

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 667 meters (0 to 2,188 feet).[4]

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Culture: Space 18-24" apart.

Soil: Minimum pH: 6.6 • Maximum pH: 7.5

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Sun to Partial Shade

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 11. (map)

Taxonomy

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Unambiguous Synonyms

  1. Cereus oxypetalus Candolle, Prodr. 3: 470. 1828
  2. Cereus oxypetalus Dc.
  3. Epiphyllum oxypetalum /i> (Dc.) Haw.
  4. Phyllocactus oxypetalus (Candolle) Link Ex Walpers.

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000.

Place of publication : Philos. Mag. Ann. Chem. 6:109. 1829.

Name verified on 18-Sep-1986 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last updated: 04-Aug-2006.

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Epiphyllum

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 2197 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

E. 'Abendsonne' · E. 'Abobio' · E. 'Absintha' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Acadia' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Acapulco' · E. 'Acapulco Sunset' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Ach-Ya' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Achievement' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. ackermanii (Orchid Cactus) · E. ackermanni · E. ackermannii · E. 'Ackermannii Hybridus' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. acuminatum · E. 'Adagio' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Ada Perry' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Adm. Chester Nimitz' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Admiral Chester Nimitz' · E. 'Admiral Togo' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Adolf Serner' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Adorable' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Adriana' · E. 'Adventure' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Aequator' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Afghan' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'African Queen' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Agatha' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Alaskan Gold' · E. alatum · E. 'Albatros' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Alba Superbus' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Albertine' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Albolaza' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. album · E. 'Alchemy' · E. 'Alcide' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Alena' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Alexandra' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Alfred Dunn' · E. 'Alfred Paetz' · E. 'Algiers' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Alice Emmons' · E. 'Alice Sargent' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Alida Paetz' · E. 'All That Jazz' · E. 'Almenrausch' · E. 'Alpine Lace' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Alta Scott' · E. altensteinii · E. 'Alter Ego' · E. 'Alyssa K' · E. 'Al Bustan' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Amanda Paetz' · E. 'Amarna' · E. 'Amber Queen' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Ambrosia' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'American Dream' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'American Sweetheart' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Amrey Paetz' · E. 'Anaconda' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Anapurna' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Andrea Paetz' · E. 'Andromeda' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'And. an B-Mstr. O.k.' · E. 'Angels Flight' · E. angulifer · E. anguliger (Queen of the Night) · E. anguligerum · E. anguliger 'Gertrudianum' (Queen of The Night) · E. anguliger var. macrocarpa · E. anguliger var. pilocarpa · E. 'Anita Paetz' · E. 'Anna Paetz' · E. 'Annie P. Williams' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Annika Paetz' · E. 'Ann Byler' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Anthonius Paetz' · E. 'Antilles' · E. 'Antique Gown' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Antonietta Paetz' · E. 'Anton Gunther' · E. 'Apache Bill' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Apache Magic' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Apache Tears' · E. 'Apache Trail' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Appassionata' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Appeal' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Apple Blossom' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Appropo' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'April Shower' · E. 'Aquarius' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Aquator' · E. 'Arapahoe' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Arcadia' · E. 'Arctic Night' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Argentia' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Argentina' · E. 'Argos' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Argus' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Ariba' (Hybrid Epiphyllum) · E. 'Arioso' (Hybrid Epiphyllum)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 23, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Zhen-yu Li & Nigel P. Taylor "Cactaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 13 Page 209. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Michael W. Hawkes "Epiphyllum". in Flora of North America Vol. 4 Page 95, 96, 178. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. "Epiphyllum oxypetalum". in Flora of China Vol. 13 Page 212. Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  4. Mean = -105.000 meters (-344.488 feet), Standard Deviation = 687.520 based on 5 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/1/2009