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Selenicereus triangularis; photograph (c) Alex Doyle, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Alex Doyle, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-05-17

Selenicereus triangularis (L.) D.R.Hunt

Cactaceae · Cuba, Dominican Republic +3 · listed by its genus as an epiphyte

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Selenicereus triangularis, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedSelenicereus triangularis, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedSelenicereus triangularis, photograph (c) Matteo Bellucci, some rights reserved (CC BY)Selenicereus triangularis, photograph (c) Matteo Bellucci, some rights reserved (CC BY)Selenicereus triangularis, photograph (c) Matteo Bellucci, some rights reserved (CC BY)Selenicereus triangularis, photograph (c) Matteo Bellucci, some rights reserved (CC BY) 52 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
21.5°C
Record low 18.9 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
29°C
Jul, Aug and Sep at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,356mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
28–42DLI
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, May and July to December (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.

About the genus · Selenicereus

Selenicereus, from Ancient Greek σελήνη (selḗnē), meaning "moon", and Latin cēreus, meaning "candle", sometimes known as moonlight cactus, is a genus of epiphytic, lithophytic, and terrestrial cacti, found in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and northern South America. The term night-blooming cereus is also sometimes used, but this is also used for many night-blooming cacti, including Epiphyllum and Peniocereus. In 2017, the genus Hylocereus was brought into synonymy with Selenicereus. More on Wikipedia ›

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

Cultivation

Grouped as an epiphyte, listed under the genus Selenicereus 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 (1,022 mm of 1,419 mm) falls in May and July to December. The temperature curve is flat, 2.8 °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

1,419 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,022 mm of it May and July to December. Wettest month October at 176 mm, driest month February at 57 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,091 mm to 2,111 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,356 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,419 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: 28 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 26, 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 21.5 °C, the absolute minimum 18.9 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.7 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 22.5 °C in February (across the grid cells of the range 18.5 °C to 23.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 29.1 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 21.5 °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: 61 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 -112 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 Selenicereus 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 Selenicereus triangularis through the yearWarmest months July, August and September, mean daily high 29 °C; coldest month February, mean nightly low 22.5 °C; 1,419 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.15°20°25°30°35°32.7° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER18.9° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 28–42RH 61–65%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 77 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 °C26 / 25–2826 / 25–2826 / 25–2927 / 26–2928 / 26–3028 / 27–3129 / 27–3129 / 28–3129 / 28–3128 / 27–3027 / 26–2926 / 26–28
Night °C23 / 19–2423 / 19–2423 / 19–2423 / 20–2524 / 21–2525 / 22–2625 / 22–2625 / 22–2625 / 22–2625 / 21–2624 / 20–2523 / 19–25
Rain mm80 / 39–14457 / 37–10460 / 44–107101 / 72–161163 / 107–22599 / 75–174108 / 73–190137 / 101–207166 / 124–224176 / 146–222169 / 104–233103 / 48–190
DLI30 / 28–3235 / 32–3640 / 37–4042 / 40–4341 / 40–4242 / 41–4342 / 41–4341 / 40–4238 / 36–3934 / 33–3430 / 28–3128 / 26–30
RH %62 / 60–6561 / 60–6461 / 60–6462 / 61–6564 / 62–6764 / 62–6763 / 61–6664 / 62–6764 / 63–6765 / 63–6864 / 62–6862 / 61–66
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 77 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (139 records in those cells; 2 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), 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 1440:2263 (17.975, -66.825). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 18.9 °C, 1st-percentile night 21.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.7 °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 77 distinct grid cells holding 139 of the 141 in-range records (2 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1440:2263 (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 18.00_-66.875, lapse-corrected -112 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 46 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.
NativeCuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico · introduced: Sicilia, Canary Is., St.Helena, Panama · 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 marker18.237, -65.782 · in the densest population, 115 records (62% 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 185 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 139 of them in the land cells it reads, of 141 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 70 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 18 km away. 66 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 44 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 185 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Selenicereus triangularis, photograph 1did not loadSelenicereus triangularis, photograph 2did not loadSelenicereus triangularis, photograph 3did not loadSelenicereus triangularis, photograph 4did not loadSelenicereus triangularis, photograph 5did not loadSelenicereus triangularis, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) Matteo Bellucci, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4).

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

Stigmaphyllon emarginatum Stigmaphyllon emarginatum Monarch Amazonvine Photo: CC0, author not statedErythroxylum brevipes Erythroxylum brevipes Brisselet Photo: CC BY, Alex DoyleFurcraea tuberosa Furcraea tuberosa Karata Photo: CC BY, harrierRauvolfia nitida Rauvolfia nitida Glasswood Photo: CC BY-SA, Kurt MillerPoitea florida Poitea florida Soldier Whip Photo: CC BY-SA, Matt LavinCoccoloba microstachya Coccoloba microstachya Puckhout Photo: CC BY-SA, Kurt Miller

Other Selenicereus 21 in the reference

Selenicereus anthonyanus Selenicereus anthonyanus Fishbone cactus Photo: CC0, author not statedSelenicereus costaricensis Selenicereus costaricensis Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Christian BackSelenicereus glaber Selenicereus glaber Cactaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, ThelmadatterSelenicereus grandiflorus Selenicereus grandiflorus Queen of the night Photo: CC BY, José Javier Barrios FloresSelenicereus guatemalensis Selenicereus guatemalensis Cactaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedSelenicereus hamatus Selenicereus hamatus Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, P Gonzalez ZamoraSelenicereus inermis Selenicereus inermis Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Carlos Domínguez-RodríguezSelenicereus megalanthus Selenicereus megalanthus Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Luis G Restrepo Selenicereus minutiflorus Cactaceae Selenicereus monacanthus Selenicereus monacanthus Nightblooming Cereus Photo: CC BY, Raúl A. Ruiz M.Selenicereus nelsonii Selenicereus nelsonii Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez MarcialSelenicereus ocamponis Selenicereus ocamponis Cactaceae Photo: CC0, author not stated all 22 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Cactus anizogonus; Cactus napoleonis; Cactus triangularis; Cactus triangularis var. aphyllus; Cactus triangularis var. foliaceus and 21 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataiNaturalist

The record

Family
Cactaceae
Described by
(L.) D.R.Hunt
Native to
Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti +2
Wild records
185 in range · 70 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; 4 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (3 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 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 18.00_-66.875, lapse-corrected -112 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
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 33 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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