Interesting Facts
Common Names
Common Names in English:
Rhipsalis
Description
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]
Physical Description
Flowers: Flower Color: near white, pale pink, white
Size/Age/Growth
Size: under 6" tall.
Biology
Growth
Culture: Space 6-9" apart.
Soil: Minimum pH: 6.1 • Maximum pH: 6.5
Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Light Shade.
Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 10a, 10b, 11. (map)
Taxonomy
- Domain:
Eukaryota
(
)
- Whittaker & Margulis,1978
- eukaryotes
- Kingdom:
Plantae
()
- Haeckel, 1866
- Plants
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
()
- Cavalier-Smith, 1981
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
()
- Sinnott, 1935 ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998
- Vascular Plants
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
()
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
()
- Kenrick & Crane, 1997
- Class:
Magnoliopsida
()
- Brongniart, 1843
- Dicotyledons
- Subclass:
Caryophyllidae
()
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Superorder:
Caryophyllanae
()
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Order:
Caryophyllales
()
- Perleb, 1826
- Suborder:
Portulacineae
()
- Family:
Cactaceae
()
- Durande, 1782 ex A.L. de Jussieu, 1789, nom. cons.
- cactus
- Subfamily:
Cactoideae
()
- Tribe:
Rhipsalideae
()
- Genus:
Rhipsalis
()
- J. Gaertner, 1788, nom. cons.
- Specific epithet:
goebeliana
- Backeb.
- Botanical name: - Rhipsalis goebeliana Backeb.
- Specific epithet:
goebeliana
- Backeb.
- Genus:
Rhipsalis
(
- Tribe:
Rhipsalideae
(
- Subfamily:
Cactoideae
(
- Family:
Cactaceae
(
- Suborder:
Portulacineae
(
- Order:
Caryophyllales
(
- Superorder:
Caryophyllanae
(
- Subclass:
Caryophyllidae
(
- Class:
Magnoliopsida
(
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
(
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
(
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
(
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
(
- Kingdom:
Plantae
(
Similar Species
Members of the genus Rhipsalis
ZipcodeZoo has pages for 48 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:
R. baccifera (Mistletoe) · R. baccifera erythrocarpa (Mistletoe Cactus) · R. baccifera hileiabaiana (Mistletoe Cactus) · R. burchellii (Rhipsalis) · R. campos-portoana (Rhipsalis) · R. capilliformis (Link Cactus) · R. cereoides (Rhipsalis) · R. cereuscula (Coral Cactus) · R. clavata (Rhipsalis) · R. crispata (Rhipsalis) · R. cuneata (Rhipsalis) · R. dissimilis (Rhipsalis) · R. dissimilis var. setulosa (Rhipsalis) · R. elliptica (Rhipsalis) · R. elliptica var. helicoidea (Rhipsalis) · R. ewaldiana (Rhipsalis) · R. floccosa (Rhipsalis) · R. goebeliana (Rhipsalis) · R. grandiflora (Rhipsalis) · R. hoelleri (Rhipsalis) · R. houlletiana (Snowdrop Cactus) · R. juengeri (Rhipsalis) · R. lindbergiana (Rhipsalis) · R. mesembryanthemoides (Clumpy Mistletoe Cactus) · (Rhipsalis) · R. micrantha f. kirbergii (Rhipsalis) · R. neves-armondii (Rhipsalis) · R. neves-armondii f. megalantha (Rhipsalis) · R. oblonga (Rhipsalis) · R. occidentalis (Rhipsalis) · R. olivifera (Rhipsalis) · R. ormindoi (Rhipsalis) · R. pacheco-leonis (Rhipsalis) · R. pachyptera (Rhipsalis) · R. paradoxa (Chain Cactus) · R. paradoxa f. minima (Chain Cactus) · R. pentaptera (Rhipsalis) · R. pilocarpa (Rhipsalis) · R. pulchra (Rhipsalis) · R. puniceodiscus (Rhipsalis) · R. quellebambensis (Red Mistletoe Cactus) · R. russellii (Rhipsalis) · R. sulcata (Rhipsalis) · R. teres (Rhipsalis) · R. teres f. heteroclada (Rhipsalis) · R. teres f. prismatica (Rhipsalis) · R. trigona (Rhipsalis) · R. 'Easter Bouquet' (Rhipsalis)
More Info
- Search for Pictures: images.google.com
- Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
- Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
- Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books
Further Reading
- Judd, W.S., Campbell, C.S., Kellog, E.A. & Donoghue, M.J. (2002): Plant Systematics: a phylogenetic approach, Sinauer, Sunderland, Mass.
- .Li Zhenyu. 1999. Cactaceae. In: Ku Tsuechih, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 52(1): 272-285.
Notes
Contributors
- Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.
Data Sources
Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 28, 2007:
- Missouri Botanical Garden, Missouri Botanical Garden
Identifiers
- Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 5762523
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 15309912
- Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:138292-1
- Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 887864
Footnotes
- 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]
