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Cleistocactus buchtienii; photograph Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SAStan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Cleistocactus buchtienii Backeb.

Cactaceae · Bolivia · listed by its genus as a cactus or succulent

English names not checked: Wikidata's common names were not read for this page.

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Cleistocactus buchtienii, photograph Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsCleistocactus buchtienii, photograph Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsCleistocactus buchtienii, photograph Magnus Manske, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsCleistocactus buchtienii, photograph C T Johansson, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsCleistocactus buchtienii, photograph Salicyna, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsCleistocactus buchtienii, photograph Salicyna, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 12 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
0.2°C
Record low -3.4 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
20°C
Oct and Nov at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
728mm
7 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
30–42DLI
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

Cleistocactus buchtienii is a species of columnar cacti in the genus Cleistocactus.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Cleistocactus buchtienii", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent, listed under the genus Cleistocactus in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “succulent shrub or tree”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (525 mm of 719 mm) falls in December to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 14.6 °C against a yearly mean of 13.3 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: June to September.

Rain

719 mm in the median year at the habitat, 525 mm of it December to March. Wettest month January at 168 mm, driest month July at 3 mm; 2 months under 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 539 mm to 1,495 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 728 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 719 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: 30 to 42 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 46).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 0.2 °C, the absolute minimum -3.4 °C, 128 frost nights in 44 years, 2.9 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 25.6 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 3.2 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 1.2 °C to 5.8 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 20.0 °C in October (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 0.2 °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: 54 to 65% 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 -381 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 genus Cleistocactus in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “succulent shrub or tree”. 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 Cleistocactus buchtienii through the yearWarmest months October and November, mean daily high 20 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 3.2 °C; 719 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.-5°0°5°10°15°20°25°30°frost25.6° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-3.4° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 30–42RH 54–65%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 49 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 °C18 / 16–2018 / 15–2018 / 15–2018 / 15–2018 / 15–2017 / 15–2017 / 14–1919 / 15–2119 / 16–2120 / 17–2220 / 17–2219 / 16–21
Night °C10 / 8–1110 / 7–1110 / 7–118 / 6–106 / 4–84 / 2–63 / 1–65 / 3–77 / 5–89 / 6–1010 / 7–1110 / 8–11
Rain mm168 / 129–290131 / 100–239109 / 81–21034 / 23–857 / 4–424 / 2–263 / 2–2410 / 5–4222 / 15–6748 / 33–10766 / 47–158117 / 91–217
DLI38 / 34–4238 / 34–4136 / 33–3934 / 30–3732 / 29–3630 / 28–3331 / 29–3435 / 33–3839 / 36–4242 / 38–4541 / 38–4640 / 35–44
RH %64 / 61–7065 / 61–7063 / 61–7062 / 59–6857 / 53–6455 / 49–6154 / 50–6055 / 51–6157 / 53–6258 / 54–6360 / 57–6662 / 59–68
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 49 grid cells holding the 61 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 2138:2256 (-16.925, -67.175). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -3.4 °C, 1st-percentile night 0.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 25.6 °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 49 distinct grid cells holding 61 of the 61 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2138:2256 (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 -17.00_-66.875, lapse-corrected -381 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2966 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.

This species has no GBIF key of its own. Its records are GBIF's under the keys of the names Kew's World Checklist holds as this plant: 7279825 (Cleistocactus buchtienii Backeb., 83 records), 11064712 (Echinopsis buchtienii (Backeb.) Anceschi & Magli, 0 records). No name was matched to GBIF; the keys are read from Kew's synonymy. How.

NativeBolivia · 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-17.286, -66.311 · in the densest population, 67 records (93% of those in range)
Kew's description“succulent shrub or tree” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 72 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 61 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 17 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 215 km away. 11 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.
Other GBIF keysRecords also from GBIF's key 7279825 (Cleistocactus buchtienii Backeb.): Kew's file holds it as Cleistocactus buchtienii Backeb. (accepted); 83 records, from GBIF's download.Records also from GBIF's key 11064712 (Echinopsis buchtienii (Backeb.) Anceschi & Magli): Kew's file holds it as Echinopsis buchtienii (Backeb.) Anceschi & Magli (synonym under Cleistocactus buchtienii Backeb.); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 72 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Cleistocactus buchtienii, photograph 1did not loadCleistocactus buchtienii, photograph 2did not loadCleistocactus buchtienii, photograph 3did not loadCleistocactus buchtienii, photograph 4did not loadCleistocactus buchtienii, photograph 5did not loadCleistocactus buchtienii, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (2); Magnus Manske, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; C T Johansson, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Salicyna, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (2).

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

Echinopsis cinnabarina Echinopsis cinnabarina Cactaceae Photo: CC0, StickpenEchinopsis volliana Echinopsis volliana Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, David F. BelmonteWeingartia canigueralii Weingartia canigueralii Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Nolan ExeTillandsia caliginosa Tillandsia caliginosa Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY, Hector MonteroEchinopsis mamillosa Echinopsis mamillosa Cactaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Stan ShebsBorzicactus strausii Borzicactus strausii Cactaceae Photo: CC0, author not stated

Other Cleistocactus 12 in the reference

Cleistocactus baumannii Cleistocactus baumannii Firecracker cactus Photo: CC BY-SA, Thibaud AronsonCleistocactus brookeae Cleistocactus brookeae Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Paul KaluschkeCleistocactus candelilla Cleistocactus candelilla Cactaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedCleistocactus colademononis Cleistocactus colademononis Cactaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Michael WolfCleistocactus hyalacanthus Cleistocactus hyalacanthus Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, William StephensCleistocactus luribayensis Cleistocactus luribayensis Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Alejandro Bruno Miranda-CalleCleistocactus morawetzianus Cleistocactus morawetzianus Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, David F. BelmonteCleistocactus parviflorus Cleistocactus parviflorus Cactaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedCleistocactus ritteri Cleistocactus ritteri Cactaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Diego DelsoCleistocactus samaipatanus Cleistocactus samaipatanus Cactaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Stan ShebsCleistocactus smaragdiflorus Cleistocactus smaragdiflorus Firecracker Cactus Photo: CC BY, Agustín ZarcoCleistocactus tominensis Cleistocactus tominensis Cactaceae Photo: Public domain, Daderot

Names & registers

Also known as Cleistocactus buchtienii var. flavispinus; Cleistocactus tupizensis var. sucrensis; Cleistocactus sucrensis; Cleistocactus ayopayanus; Cleistocactus angosturensis and 3 more. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

IPNIPOWOWikidataWFOWikipedia

The record

Family
Cactaceae
Described by
Backeb.
Native to
Bolivia
Wild records
72 in range · 17 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 2026-10-22
Kew's names (WCVP) kew.names answeredas of 2026-06-04Kew's entry Cleistocactus buchtienii Backeb. (plant_name_id 2725368), read from Kew's names file
GBIF species record gbif.species not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredasked 2026-10-22this species has no GBIF key of its own; its records are read under GBIF's keys for the names Kew's file holds as this plant, never by a name matched; GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 83 records of GBIF's key 7279825, Cleistocactus buchtienii Backeb. (Kew's file holds it as Cleistocactus buchtienii Backeb. (accepted)): the GBIF download; 0 records of GBIF's key 11064712, Echinopsis buchtienii (Backeb.) Anceschi & Magli (Kew's file holds it as Echinopsis buchtienii (Backeb.) Anceschi & Magli (synonym under Cleistocactus buchtienii Backeb.)): GBIF occurrence search API; 1 record within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (1 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -17.00_-66.875, lapse-corrected -381 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by Kew's IPNI identifier 131005-1, POWO 131005-1
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
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 2 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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