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Aylostera pygmaea; photograph (c) Fabien Anthelme, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) CC BY-SA(c) Fabien Anthelme, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · observed growing wild · 2026-03-30

Aylostera pygmaea (R.E.Fr.) Mosti & Papini

Cactaceae · Bolivia, Argentina Northwest · listed by its family as a cactus or succulent

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Aylostera pygmaea, photograph (c) Fabien Anthelme, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Aylostera pygmaea, photograph (c) Fabien Anthelme, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Aylostera pygmaea, photograph (c) Fabien Anthelme, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Aylostera pygmaea, photograph (c) Kay Urban, some rights reserved (CC BY)Aylostera pygmaea, photograph (c) Kay Urban, some rights reserved (CC BY)Aylostera pygmaea, photograph (c) Kay Urban, some rights reserved (CC BY) 36 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-4.5°C
Record low -6.9 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
17°C
Oct and Nov at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
842mm
7 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
32–45DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes June to September (December to March at the habitat), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Aylostera pygmaea, synonyms including Rebutia pygmaea, is a species of cactus in the genus Aylostera, native to Bolivia and northwest Argentina. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Aylostera pygmaea", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent, listed under the family Cactaceae in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “succulent subshrub”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (642 mm of 858 mm) falls in December to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 10.8 °C against a yearly mean of 9.3 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: June to September.

Rain

858 mm in the median year at the habitat, 642 mm of it December to March. Wettest month January at 210 mm, driest month July at 4 mm; 1 month under 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 657 mm to 1,281 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 842 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 858 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 32 to 45 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 28, the highest 90th-percentile month 52).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -4.5 °C, the absolute minimum -6.9 °C, 4,882 frost nights in 44 years, 111.0 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 23.7 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -1.1 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range -4.1 °C to 2.0 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 17.0 °C in October (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -4.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 41 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -204 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the family Cactaceae in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “succulent subshrub”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Aylostera pygmaea through the yearWarmest months October and November, mean daily high 17 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low -1.1 °C; 858 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°frost23.7° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-6.9° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 32–45RH 41–67%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 64 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C15 / 13–1715 / 13–1715 / 13–1715 / 13–1715 / 12–1714 / 11–1713 / 10–1615 / 12–1816 / 13–1817 / 14–1917 / 14–1916 / 13–18
Night °C6 / 4–96 / 4–86 / 4–84 / 2–72 / -1–5-1 / -4–3-1 / -4–20 / -2–31 / -1–54 / 2–75 / 3–86 / 4–9
Rain mm210 / 161–307155 / 120–239126 / 97–18532 / 19–487 / 4–175 / 3–104 / 2–911 / 5–1823 / 9–3753 / 31–8581 / 54–130151 / 117–244
DLI39 / 36–4639 / 35–4537 / 33–4335 / 31–4134 / 29–3832 / 28–3533 / 29–3637 / 34–4142 / 39–4744 / 39–5145 / 39–5242 / 38–49
RH %67 / 59–7167 / 59–7165 / 58–7158 / 52–6647 / 39–5541 / 31–4741 / 32–4746 / 38–5251 / 43–5757 / 47–6362 / 51–6665 / 55–69
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 64 grid cells holding the 77 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 2171:2261 (-18.575, -66.925). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -6.9 °C, 1st-percentile night -4.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 23.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 64 distinct grid cells holding 77 of the 77 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2171:2261 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -18.50_-66.875, lapse-corrected -204 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 3768 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBolivia, Argentina Northwest · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-21.038, -65.476 · in the densest population, 63 records (65% of those in range)
Kew's description“succulent subshrub” · “montane tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 97 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 77 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 13 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 99 km away. 20 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 97 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Aylostera pygmaea, photograph 1did not loadAylostera pygmaea, photograph 2did not loadAylostera pygmaea, photograph 3did not loadAylostera pygmaea, photograph 4did not loadAylostera pygmaea, photograph 5did not loadAylostera pygmaea, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Fabien Anthelme, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (3); (c) Kay Urban, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Echinopsis chrysochete Echinopsis chrysochete Cactaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Michael Wolf (Webseite)Dalea boliviana Dalea boliviana Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, Ariadna TripaldiHypseocharis pimpinellifolia Hypseocharis pimpinellifolia Hypseocharitaceae Photo: CC BY, Facundo ChieffoOreocereus trollii Oreocereus trollii Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Rocío Esmeralda PoseAustrocylindropuntia shaferi Austrocylindropuntia shaferi Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Andrés Romero BravoEchinopsis marsoneri Echinopsis marsoneri Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Kay Urban

Other Aylostera 10 in the reference

Aylostera albiflora Aylostera albiflora Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Otakar SidaAylostera deminuta Aylostera deminuta Cactaceae Photo: CC0, Mateo TapiaAylostera einsteinii Aylostera einsteinii Cactaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedAylostera fiebrigii Aylostera fiebrigii Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Otakar SidaAylostera heliosa Aylostera heliosa Cactaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Stan ShebsAylostera kupperiana Aylostera kupperiana Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Otakar SidaAylostera muscula Aylostera muscula Cactaceae Photo: Public domain, ChilepineAylostera pulvinosa Aylostera pulvinosa Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Otakar SidaAylostera steinmannii Aylostera steinmannii Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Otakar SidaAylostera tuberosa Aylostera tuberosa Cactaceae Photo: CC0, author not stated

Names & registers

Also known as Acantholobivia haagei; Aylostera amblypetala; Aylostera applanata; Aylostera brachyantha; Aylostera brunescens and 272 more. (GBIF Backbone)

Kew accepts as species of their own Aylostera atrovirens; Aylostera nigricans; Aylostera steinmannii: older names in GBIF's record of this species that Kew's World Checklist accepts as other species. (WCVP, RBG Kew, file of 2026-06-04)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Cactaceae
Described by
(R.E.Fr.) Mosti & Papini
Native to
Bolivia, Argentina Northwest
Wild records
97 in range · 13 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-21
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-21
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -18.50_-66.875, lapse-corrected -204 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 5 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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