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Rhipsalis cereuscula; photograph (c) Reinaldo de Oliveira Elias, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Reinaldo de Oliveira Elias, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-01-09

Rhipsalis cereuscula Haw.

Rice cactus

Cactaceae · Bolivia, Brazil West-Central +6 · listed by its genus as an epiphyte

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Rhipsalis cereuscula, photograph (c) William Stephens, some rights reserved (CC BY)Rhipsalis cereuscula, photograph (c) Paulo C. O. Cunha, some rights reserved (CC BY)Rhipsalis cereuscula, photograph (c) Paulo C. O. Cunha, some rights reserved (CC BY)Rhipsalis cereuscula, photograph (c) Gabriel Fernandes, some rights reserved (CC BY)Rhipsalis cereuscula, photograph (c) Gabriel Fernandes, some rights reserved (CC BY)Rhipsalis cereuscula, photograph (c) Paulo C. O. Cunha, some rights reserved (CC BY) 45 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
2.2°C
Record low -2.9 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
28°C
Jan, Feb, Mar and Dec at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,776mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
18–40DLI
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
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

About the genus · Rhipsalis

Rhipsalis is a genus of epiphytic flowering plants in the cactus family, typically known as mistletoe cacti. They are found in parts of Central America, the Caribbean and northern regions of South America. One species, Rhipsalis baccifera also inhabits locations in Africa and Asia, and is the only cactus species naturally occurring in the Old World. More on Wikipedia ›

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

Cultivation

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

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,344 mm of 1,774 mm) takes 8 months, September to February and April to May. Mean temperature moves 8.2 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: March to August and October to November.

Rain

1,774 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,344 mm of it September to February and April to May. Wettest month January at 196 mm, driest month August at 82 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,350 mm to 2,063 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,776 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,774 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: 18 to 40 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 17, 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 2.2 °C, the absolute minimum -2.9 °C, 32 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.8 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 12.0 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 9.8 °C to 14.7 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 28.3 °C in January (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 2.2 °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: 59 to 64% 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 -37 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 Rhipsalis 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, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Rhipsalis cereuscula through the yearWarmest months January, February, March and December, mean daily high 28 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 12.0 °C; 1,774 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°40°frost38.8° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-2.9° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 18–40RH 59–64%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 68 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 °C28 / 26–3128 / 26–3028 / 25–3026 / 24–2722 / 21–2421 / 19–2321 / 18–2323 / 20–2424 / 21–2626 / 23–2827 / 24–2928 / 25–31
Night °C21 / 19–2321 / 18–2320 / 18–2218 / 16–2014 / 12–1713 / 11–1512 / 10–1513 / 11–1515 / 13–1717 / 15–1918 / 16–2020 / 18–22
Rain mm196 / 149–276169 / 135–219144 / 126–185148 / 79–195148 / 63–188111 / 44–15093 / 36–12682 / 34–106146 / 69–163177 / 118–241169 / 131–207191 / 135–234
DLI39 / 35–4237 / 35–3934 / 32–3426 / 24–3021 / 20–2518 / 17–2320 / 18–2426 / 23–2930 / 27–3235 / 32–3639 / 34–4040 / 35–43
RH %64 / 61–6764 / 62–6763 / 61–6663 / 61–6663 / 61–6564 / 61–6562 / 60–6459 / 57–6559 / 58–6561 / 59–6661 / 59–6562 / 59–66
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 68 grid cells holding the 93 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 2348:2481 (-27.425, -55.925). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -2.9 °C, 1st-percentile night 2.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.8 °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 68 distinct grid cells holding 93 of the 93 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2348:2481 (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 -27.50_-55.625, lapse-corrected -37 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 119 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, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Paraguay, Uruguay · introduced: Florida, Costa Rica · 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-25.53, -54.147 · in the densest population, 117 records (41% 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 287 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 93 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 243 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 4 km away. 4 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 194 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 287 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Rhipsalis cereuscula, photograph 1did not loadRhipsalis cereuscula, photograph 2did not loadRhipsalis cereuscula, photograph 3did not loadRhipsalis cereuscula, photograph 4did not loadRhipsalis cereuscula, photograph 5did not loadRhipsalis cereuscula, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) William Stephens, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Paulo C. O. Cunha, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Gabriel Fernandes, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

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

Cattleya cernua Cattleya cernua Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Pablo Cauã da Silva ToledoCampomanesia guazumifolia Campomanesia guazumifolia Myrtaceae Photo: CC BY, Cecilia Fer DíazAcianthera aphthosa Acianthera aphthosa Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, bruno_san1409Jacaranda micrantha Jacaranda micrantha Bignoniaceae Photo: CC BY, Thomaz Ricardo Favreto Sinani Abutilon densiflorum Malvaceae Heteranthera zosterifolia Heteranthera zosterifolia Stargrass Photo: CC BY, Paulo C. O. Cunha

Other Rhipsalis 34 in the reference

Rhipsalis baccifera Rhipsalis baccifera Mistletoe cactus Photo: CC BY, Claudio Cantú MuñizRhipsalis burchellii Rhipsalis burchellii Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Jefferson FerreiraRhipsalis campos-portoana Rhipsalis campos-portoana Cactaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, salchuRhipsalis cereoides Rhipsalis cereoides Cactaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Krzysztof Ziarnek, KenraizRhipsalis clavata Rhipsalis clavata Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Gabriel Jovêncio RibeiroRhipsalis crispata Rhipsalis crispata Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Diogo LuizRhipsalis cuneata Rhipsalis cuneata Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Krzysztof Ziarnek, KenraizRhipsalis dissimilis Rhipsalis dissimilis Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Pedro Alvaro NevesRhipsalis elliptica Rhipsalis elliptica Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Yoannis DomínguezRhipsalis ewaldiana Rhipsalis ewaldiana Cactaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, SadambioRhipsalis floccosa Rhipsalis floccosa Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Gabriel FernandesRhipsalis goebeliana Rhipsalis goebeliana Cactaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Sadambio all 35 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Erythrorhipsalis cereuscula; Hariota cereuscula; Hariota penduiflora; Hariota saglionis; Rhipsalis brachiata and 6 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataiNaturalist

The record

Family
Cactaceae
Described by
Haw.
Native to
Bolivia, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast +5
Wild records
287 in range · 243 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 answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 5 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (3 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 2 at a zoo; 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 -27.50_-55.625, lapse-corrected -37 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by its label; its IPNI identifier 309421-2 is Kew's for Rhipsalis cereuscula Haw.
Wikipedia wikipedia nothing to reportasked 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 2026-10-22
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 56 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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