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Disocactus crenatus; photograph (c) Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-08-30

Disocactus crenatus (Lindl.) M.Á.Cruz & S.Arias

Cactaceae · Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast +8 · listed by its genus as an epiphyte

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Disocactus crenatus, photograph (c) Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, some rights reserved (CC BY)Disocactus crenatus, photograph (c) Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, some rights reserved (CC BY)Disocactus crenatus, photograph (c) Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, some rights reserved (CC BY)Disocactus crenatus, photograph (c) Julius P, some rights reserved (CC BY)Disocactus crenatus, photograph (c) Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, some rights reserved (CC BY)Disocactus crenatus, photograph (c) Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, some rights reserved (CC BY) 27 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
5.0°C
Record low -3.1 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
25°C
Mar and Apr at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,827mm
9 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 the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
A sharp rainy season, June to October (the habitat's months, not shifted), in a year of even temperature. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Disocactus crenatus, commonly known as the crenate orchid cactus, is a species of cactus cultivated for its large flowers. It is a critical parent plant in creating epiphyllum hybrids commonly cultivated worldwide.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Disocactus crenatus", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Disocactus

Disocactus is a genus of epiphytic cacti in the tribe Hylocereeae found in Central America, the Caribbean and northern South America. It should not be confused with Discocactus, which is a different genus.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Disocactus", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as an epiphyte, listed under the genus Disocactus in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “succulent epiphyte”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,447 mm of 1,820 mm) falls in June to October. The temperature curve is flat, 3.4 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere. The temperature curve moves under 4 °C between the warmest and coldest month, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

1,820 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,447 mm of it June to October. Wettest month September at 343 mm, driest month January at 16 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,319 mm to 3,337 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,827 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,820 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern 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 24, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 5.0 °C, the absolute minimum -3.1 °C, 3 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 35.0 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 11.4 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 6.9 °C to 16.1 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 24.9 °C in April (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 5.0 °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: 57 to 70% 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 +102 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 Disocactus in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “succulent epiphyte”. 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, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Disocactus crenatus through the yearWarmest months March and April, mean daily high 25 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 11.4 °C; 1,820 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, northern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost35.0° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-3.1° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0200400600800mm rainDLI 30–42RH 57–70%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 62 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 °C22 / 17–2523 / 19–2725 / 21–2925 / 22–3024 / 21–3023 / 19–2823 / 19–2723 / 19–2722 / 18–2622 / 18–2622 / 18–2522 / 18–25
Night °C11 / 7–1612 / 8–1712 / 8–1814 / 10–2015 / 11–2115 / 11–2115 / 10–2115 / 11–2115 / 11–2114 / 10–1913 / 8–1812 / 7–17
Rain mm16 / 4–8918 / 6–6923 / 10–5957 / 27–93170 / 100–314336 / 261–580280 / 198–505297 / 223–583343 / 261–654191 / 113–44661 / 28–14928 / 8–113
DLI32 / 25–3636 / 30–3941 / 36–4342 / 40–4339 / 35–4232 / 30–3735 / 33–3935 / 32–3830 / 28–3330 / 29–3330 / 27–3430 / 24–34
RH %60 / 56–6858 / 55–6657 / 56–6259 / 57–6364 / 61–6768 / 66–7066 / 64–7167 / 64–7170 / 68–7268 / 66–7164 / 61–6961 / 58–68
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 62 grid cells holding the 89 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 1409:1662 (19.525, -96.875). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -3.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 5.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 35.0 °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 62 distinct grid cells holding 89 of the 89 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1409:1662 (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 19.50_-96.875, lapse-corrected +102 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1235 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.
NativeMexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama · introduced: Society Is. · 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 marker16.58, -92.513 · in the densest population, 69 records (54% of those in range)
Kew's description“succulent epiphyte” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 127 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 89 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 100 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 30 km away. 5 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 38 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 8544539 (Phyllocactus crenatus (Lindl.) Walp., 1846): Kew's file holds it as Phyllocactus crenatus (Lindl.) Lem. (synonym under Disocactus crenatus (Lindl.) M.Á.Cruz & S.Arias); 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 127 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Disocactus crenatus, photograph 1did not loadDisocactus crenatus, photograph 2did not loadDisocactus crenatus, photograph 3did not loadDisocactus crenatus, photograph 4did not loadDisocactus crenatus, photograph 5did not loadDisocactus crenatus, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Neptalí Ramírez Marcial, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5); (c) Julius P, some rights reserved (CC BY).

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

Macroclinium bicolor Macroclinium bicolor Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Grete PaschOncidium leucochilum Oncidium leucochilum Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez MarcialCitharexylum donnell-smithii Citharexylum donnell-smithii Verbenaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedMonstera siltepecana Monstera siltepecana Silver monstera Photo: CC BY, José Javier Barrios FloresLycaste cruenta Lycaste cruenta Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez MarcialRovaeanthus strigosus Rovaeanthus strigosus Rubiaceae Photo: CC BY, Liliana Ramírez-Freire

Other Disocactus 9 in the reference

Disocactus ackermannii Disocactus ackermannii Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Luc WynDisocactus anguliger Disocactus anguliger Fishbone cactus Photo: CC BY, Abraham Sánchez RomeroDisocactus biformis Disocactus biformis Cactaceae Photo: Public domain, Nathaniel Lord Britton, Joseph Nelson…Disocactus eichlamii Disocactus eichlamii Cactaceae Photo: Public domain, Nathaniel Lord Britton, Joseph Nelson…Disocactus macdougallii Disocactus macdougallii Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez MarcialDisocactus macranthus Disocactus macranthus Cactaceae Photo: Public domain, DaderotDisocactus nelsonii Disocactus nelsonii Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, elmirlopezDisocactus phyllanthoides Disocactus phyllanthoides German empress Photo: CC BY, BuckelkopfcichlideDisocactus speciosus Disocactus speciosus Sun cereus Photo: CC BY, Erick Vélez Sánchez

Names & registers

Also known as Epiphyllum crenatum; Phyllocactus ackermannii. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Cactaceae
Described by
(Lindl.) M.Á.Cruz & S.Arias
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +7
Wild records
127 in range · 100 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
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 0 records of GBIF's key 8544539, Phyllocactus crenatus (Lindl.) Walp., 1846 (Kew's file holds it as Phyllocactus crenatus (Lindl.) Lem. (synonym under Disocactus crenatus (Lindl.) M.Á.Cruz & S.Arias)): GBIF occurrence search API; 2 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (2 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 19.50_-96.875, lapse-corrected +102 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
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 2026-10-22none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
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 26 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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