Species
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Epiphyllum oxypetalum (DC.) Haw.

Dutchman's Pipe Cactus, Dutchman's Pipe Cactus, Dutchman's-pipe cactus, Flor de retreta roja

Climate known 73 photographs Other epiphyte
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Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Epiphyllum oxypetalum, the Dutchman's pipe cactus, princess of the night or queen of the night, is a species of cactus with a native range from Mexico to Nicaragua. It blooms nocturnally, and its flowers wilt before dawn. Though it is sometimes referred to as a night-blooming cereus, it is not closely related to any of the species in the tribe Cereeae that are more commonly known by that name. All Cereus species bloom at night and are terrestrial plants; Epiphyllum species are usually epiphytic.

Text from Wikipedia, “Epiphyllum oxypetalum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Epiphyllum

Epiphyllum, ; from Ancient Greek ἐπι- (epi-), meaning "upon", and φύλλον (phúllon), meaning "leaf", is a genus of epiphytic plants in the cactus family (Cactaceae), native to Central America and South America. Common names for these species include climbing cacti, orchid cacti and leaf cacti, though the latter also refers to the genus Pereskia.

Text from Wikipedia, “Epiphyllum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Cactaceae
Described by
(DC.) Haw.
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest +6
Wild records
199 in range· 102 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Apr, mean day; nights 17 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1730mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Sep 327 mm (CHELSA)
Light
27–41DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a other epiphyte by the genus Epiphyllum, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to October in the northern hemisphere (June to October at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1730 mm a year, wettest September at 327 mm, driest February at 28 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 41 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 10 °C (archetype minimum for a other epiphyte, above the 8.8 °C habitat night).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Cactus oxypetalus Moc. & Sessé; Cactus oxypetalus Moc. & Sessé ex DC.; Cereus latifrons Zucc.; Cereus latifrons Zucc. ex Pfeiff., 1837; Cereus oxypetalus DC. and 14 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a other epiphyte by the genus Epiphyllum, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table supplies one figure for this group, a conventional minimum for the cold floor, and no prose.

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to October in the northern hemisphere (June to October at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1343 mm of 1730 mm) falls in June to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 22.0 °C against a yearly mean of 21.1 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to April.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: 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 gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1730 mm a year, wettest September at 327 mm, driest February at 28 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1730 mm a year at the habitat, 1343 mm of it June to October. Wettest month September at 327 mm, driest February at 28 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 915 mm to 3107 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

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

Light Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 41 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 41 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 47).

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.

Warmth and air Cold floor 10 °C (archetype minimum for a other epiphyte, above the 8.8 °C habitat night).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 8.8 °C, the absolute minimum 5.5 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.8 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 13.7 °C in January (across the envelope cells 7.8 °C to 19.4 °C), warmest day 28.0 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 10 °C. The habitat figure, the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER), is 8.8 °C; the archetype table's conventional minimum for a other epiphyte (grouped by the genus Epiphyllum, which is reliably one kind of plant) is 10 °C, which is higher, and the floor rule takes the higher.

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence, and the archetype table's group minimum where that is higher. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 59 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 23 °C in Jan to 28 °C in Apr; mean night from 14 °C in Jan to 18 °C in Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1730 mm of rain a year, most in Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 145 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 5.5 °C and the 99th-percentile day 33.8 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°33.8° 99th-percentile day (undated)5.5° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 27–41RH 59–68 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 145 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C23 / 19–2825 / 20–2927 / 22–3028 / 24–3228 / 24–3226 / 23–3026 / 22–2926 / 23–2925 / 22–2925 / 21–2824 / 20–2824 / 19–27
Night °C14 / 8–1914 / 9–2015 / 10–2117 / 12–2218 / 13–2318 / 14–2318 / 13–2318 / 14–2318 / 13–2317 / 12–2215 / 10–2114 / 9–20
Rain mm34 / 4–13028 / 6–10031 / 7–7154 / 15–97131 / 43–239298 / 170–426269 / 172–468260 / 169–478327 / 166–539189 / 76–35474 / 14–21735 / 6–165
DLI28 / 24–3533 / 28–3939 / 34–4441 / 38–4740 / 36–4536 / 32–4037 / 34–4037 / 33–4033 / 29–3631 / 27–3529 / 25–3427 / 23–33
RH %63 / 51–6961 / 49–6859 / 47–6660 / 47–6663 / 52–6768 / 59–7065 / 61–7166 / 61–7168 / 63–7267 / 59–7165 / 55–6964 / 53–70

Each figure is the median across the 145 grid cells holding the 194 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1474:1726 (16.275, -93.675). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 5.5 °C, 1st-percentile night 8.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.8 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 145 distinct grid cells holding the 194 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1474:1726 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 16.50_-93.750, lapse-corrected +433 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1146 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 every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua· introduced: China South-Central, Vietnam, Marquesas, Pitcairn Is., Society Is., Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Marshall Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil South
Kew's description“succulent epiphyte” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker18.938, -96.788 · in the densest population, 76 records (38% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 199 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 102 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 10 km away. 335 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 5 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 199 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Epiphyllum oxypetalumEpiphyllum oxypetalumEpiphyllum oxypetalumEpiphyllum oxypetalumEpiphyllum oxypetalumEpiphyllum oxypetalumEpiphyllum oxypetalumEpiphyllum oxypetalum

Photographs: (c) Daniel Pineda Vera, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Diogo Luiz, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); no rights reserved · CC0.

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Epiphyllum oxypetalum, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

GC-MS analysis of phytoconstituents in alcohol extract of Epiphyllum oxypetalum leaves
Rucha Dandekar, Bharti Fegade, Bhaskar Vh (2015) · Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry
In silico evaluation of multispecies toxicity of natural compounds
Sripriya Nannu Shankar, Ranjith Kumar M., Ashwin Karthick N., S. Bhuvaneswari (2019) · Drug and Chemical Toxicology
Elucidating effects of Epiphyllum oxypetalum (DC.) Haw polysaccharide on the physicochemical and digestive properties of tapioca starch
Nan Chen, Zi‐Jian Feng, Haoxiang Gao, Qiang He (2024) · International Journal of Biological Macromolecules
Phytochemical screening and gc-ms analysis of Epiphyllum oxypetalum flower extracts
P. Jayashree, M. Shalini, S. S. Meenambiga, V. Suganya (2020) · Research Journal of Pharmacy and Technology
Epiphyllum Oxypetalum Haw. : A Lesser Known Medicinal Plant
Afzan Mahmad (2017) · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
RETRACTED: A polysaccharide from Epiphyllum oxypetalum (DC.) Haw. and its immunomodulatory activity
Qiuyue Ma, Qian‐Da Xu, Nan Chen, Wei‐Cai Zeng (2023) · International Journal of Biological Macromolecules
Molecular docking studies of bioactive compounds from the leaves of Epiphyllum oxypetalum against Treponema pallidum, Zika virus and liver cirrhosis
R. Biswal, Priyadarshini Jayashree, Kanna Mirunaalini, Vivek Pazhamalai (2019) · Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science
EFEKTIVITAS BUNGA WIJAYA KUSUMA (Epiphyllum oxypetalum) TERHADAP PENURUNAN KADAR ASAM URAT TIKUS WISTAR
rahayu artini yuan (2019) · THE JOURNAL OF MUHAMMADIYAH MEDICAL LABORATORY TECHNOLOGIST

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 63 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.