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Rhipsalis
	Flowering Rhipsalis cereuscula
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Cactaceae
Subfamily:	Cactoideae
Tribe:	Rhipsalideae
Genus:	Rhipsalis; Gaertn.
Species
	Numerous, see text
Synonyms
	Erythrorhipsalis A.Berger;

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. They also inhabit isolated locations in Africa and Asia, and are the only cactus group naturally occurring in the Old World. This is the largest and most widely distributed genus of epiphytic cacti^[1] (those which live on other plants without damaging them).

The scientific name Rhipsalis derives from the Ancient Greek term for wickerwork,^[2]^[3] referring to the plants' morphology.

Description

The morphology of Rhipsalis is very variable. The plants can grow mostly pendent, few grow more or less upright or sprawling. There are three main stem shapes: terete, angular and flattened. The stems are succulent, but the degree of succulence varies between the species. Some have very thick stems (e.g. Rhipsalis neves-armondii), whereas other have very thin, filiform stems (e.g. Rhipsalis baccifera, Rhipsalis clavata). In the majority of species, spines are missing or occur only in the juvenile stage (this is most prominent in Rhipsalis dissimilis). Rhipsalis pilocarpa has stems and fruits densely covered by bristles, making this species easily distinguishable from all other Rhipsalis. The flowers are borne lateral or apical and are actinomorphic with a varying number of perianth segments, stamens and carpels. They are small, usually about 1 cm in diameter, white or whitish in most species. Yellowish flowers occur in R. dissimilis and R. elliptica and R. hoelleri is the only Rhipsalis species with red flowers. The fruits are always berries, they are whitish or coloured pink, red or yellow. Vivipary has been observed in R. micrantha and R. baccifera.^[4]

Taxonomy

The genus was described by Joseph Gaertner in 1788.^[5] But when he described the plant, he had in fact not realised it was a cactus. Instead, he assumed he had found a new species of Cassytha,^{[Note 1]} a parasitic laurel from a completely different plant family.

Species

In the taxonomic treatment in The New Cactus Lexicon, 35 species were accepted, divided into five subgenera (Phyllarthrorhipsalis, Rhipsalis, Epallagogonium, Calamorhipsalis, Erythrorhipsalis).^[6] A molecular study in 2011 showed the paraphyly of three subgenera as previously circumscribed (Rhipsalis, Calamorhipsalis and Epallagogonium).^[7] So a new subgeneric classification of Rhipsalis with only monophyletic subgenera Rhipsalis, Calamorhipsalis and Erythrorhipsalis was proposed.^[1] Species accepted by Plants of the World Online as of January 2023^[update] are listed below,^[8] with subgeneric placements, where given, based on Calvente (2012).^[1]

Subgenus	Image	Scientific name	Distribution
Calamorhipsalis	R. dissimilis f. dissimilis	Rhipsalis dissimilis (G.Lindb.) K.Schum.	Brazil (Paraná, São Paulo)
	R. floccosa ssp. tucumanensis	Rhipsalis floccosa Salm-Dyck ex Pfeiff.	Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela
	R. hoelleri	Rhipsalis hoelleri Barthlott & N.P.Taylor	Brazil (Espírito Santo)
	R. neves-armondii f. neves-armondii (yellow stamen) R. neves-armondii f. neves-armondii (orange stamen) R. neves-armondii f. megalantha	Rhipsalis neves-armondii K.Schum.	Brazil (Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina, São Paulo)
	R. pacheco-leonis ssp. pacheco-leonis R. pacheco-leonis ssp. catenulata	Rhipsalis pacheco-leonis Loefgr.	Brazil (Rio de Janeiro)
	R. paradoxa ssp. septentrionalis R. paradoxa ssp. paradoxa	Rhipsalis paradoxa (Salm-Dyck ex Pfeiff.) Salm-Dyck	Brazil (Bahia, Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina, São Paulo)
	R. puniceodiscus	Rhipsalis puniceodiscus G.Lindb.	Brazil (Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina, São Paulo)
	Rhipsalis trigona	Rhipsalis trigona Pfeiff.	Brazil (Paraná, Santa Catarina, São Paulo)
Erythrorhipsalis	R. aurea	Rhipsalis aurea M.F.Freitas & J.M.A.Braga	Brazil (Rio de ]aneiro)
	R. burchellii R. burchellii	Rhipsalis burchellii Britton & Rose	Brazil
	R. campos-portoana	Rhipsalis campos-portoana Loefgr.	Brazil
	R. clavata f. delicatula R. clavata f. clavata	Rhipsalis clavata F.A.C.Weber	Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo)
	R. cereuscula	Rhipsalis cereuscula Haw.	Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay
	R. juengeri	Rhipsalis juengeri Barthlott & N.P.Taylor	Brazil (São Paulo)
	R. ormindoi	Rhipsalis ormindoi N.P.Taylor & Zappi	Brazil (Rio de Janeiro)
	R. pilocarpa R. pilocarpa	Rhipsalis pilocarpa Loefgr.	Brazil (Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo)
		Rhipsalis pulchra Loefgr.	Brazil (Minas Gerais, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo)
Rhipsalis		Rhipsalis agudoensis N.P.Taylor	Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul)
		Rhipsalis baccifera (J.S.Muell.) Stearn	Madagascar, Seychelles, Mauritius, Reunion, Sri Lanka
	R. barthlottii	Rhipsalis barthlottii Ralf Bauer & N.Korotkova	Brazil (Rio de Janeiro; Serra dos Orgãos)^[9]
		Rhipsalis cereoides (Backeb. & Voll) Backeb.	Brazil
	R. crispata R. crispata	Rhipsalis crispata (Haw.) Pfeiff.	Brazil (Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo)
		Rhipsalis cuneata Britton & Rose	Bolivia
		Rhipsalis elliptica G.Lindb. ex K.Schum.	Brazil (Minas Gerais, Paraná, Santa Catarina, São Paulo)
	R. ewladiana	Rhipsalis ewaldiana Barthlott & N.P.Taylor	Brazil (Rio de Janeiro)
	R. flagelliformis	Rhipsalis flagelliformis N.P.Taylor & Zappi	Brazil (Rio de Janeiro)^[9]
		Rhipsalis goebeliana Backeb.	Bolivia
	R. grandiflora	Rhipsalis grandiflora Haw.	Brazil (Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina, São Paulo)
		Rhipsalis hileiabaiana (N.P.Taylor & Barthlott) N.Korotkova & Barthlott	Brazil (Bahia)
		Rhipsalis hylaea F.Ritter	Peru
	R. lindbergiana R. lindbergiana	Rhipsalis lindbergiana K.Schum.	Brazil (Bahia, Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Sergipe)
		Rhipsalis mesembryanthemoides Haw.	Brazil (Rio de Janeiro)
	R. micrantha f. rauhiorum R. micrantha f. kirbergii R. micrantha f. micrantha	Rhipsalis micrantha (Kunth) DC.	Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela
		Rhipsalis oblonga Loefgr., syn. Rhipsalis crispimarginata	Brazil (Bahia, Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo)
		Rhipsalis olivifera N.P.Taylor & Zappi	Brazil (Rio de Janeiro)
		Rhipsalis occidentalis Barthlott & Rauh	Ecuador, Peru, Suriname
	R. pachyptera	Rhipsalis pachyptera Pfeiff.	Brazil (Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, São Paulo)
	R. pentaptera	Rhipsalis pentaptera Pfeiff. ex A.Dietr.	Brazil (Rio de Janeiro)
	R. rhombea R. rhombea	Rhipsalis rhombea (Salm-Dyck) Pfeiff.	Southeast Brazil^[10]
		Rhipsalis russellii Britton & Rose	Brazil (Bahia, Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais)
	R. shaferi	Rhipsalis shaferi Britton & Rose 2011	Paraguay, southern Bolivia, northern Argentina
	R. sulcata R. sulcata	Rhipsalis sulcata F.A.C.Weber	Brazil (Espírito Santo)
	R. teres R. teres forma teres R. teres f. capilliformis R. teres f. heteroclada R. teres f. prismatica	Rhipsalis teres (Vell.) Steud.	Brazil
		Rhipsalis triangularis Werderm.	Brazil (Rio de Janeiro)
Unplaced		Rhipsalis trigonoides (Doweld) N.Korotkova	Brazil (São Paulo)

Distribution and habitat

Rhipsalis is found as pendulous epiphyte in tropical rainforests, some species may also grow epilithic or, rarely, terrestrial.^[11]^[12]^[7] The genus is found widely in Central America, parts of the Caribbean and a great part of northern and central South America.^[2] The center of diversity of Rhipsalis lies in the rainforests of the Mata Atlantica in southeastern Brazil.^[12] It is found throughout the New World, and additionally in tropical Africa, Madagascar and Sri Lanka.^[13]^[7] It is the only cactus with a natural occurrence outside the New World.^[14]

Notes

^ The original spelling in publication is cassutha, but this is presumably a typographical error.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Calvente, A. (2012), "A New Subgeneric Classification of Rhipsalis (Cactoideae, Cactaceae)", Systematic Botany, 37 (4): 983–988, doi:10.1600/036364412X656455, S2CID 84206266
^ ^a ^b Anderson (2001), p. 612
^ "Rhipsalis". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 2022-03-06.
^ Cota-Sánchez, J. Hugo (2004), "Vivipary in the Cactaceae: Its taxonomic occurrence and biological significance", Flora, 199 (6): 481–490, Bibcode:2004FMDFE.199..481C, doi:10.1078/0367-2530-00175
^ Gaertner, Joseph (1788), "Rhipsalis", Fruct. Sem. Pl., i: 137, doi:10.5962/bhl.title.53838
^ Hunt (2006), pp. 253–257
^ ^a ^b ^c Calvente, A.; Zappi, D.C.; Forest, F.; Lohmann, L.G. (2011), "Molecular Phylogeny, Evolution, and Biogeography of South American Epiphytic Cacti", International Journal of Plant Sciences, 172 (7): 902–914, doi:10.1086/660881, S2CID 85110148
^ "Rhipsalis Gaertn". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 2023-01-25.
^ ^a ^b Taylor, Nigel; Olsthoorn, Gerardus; Zappi, Daniela; Khew, Gillian; Quandt, Dietmar (2014-11-20). "A remarkable new Rhipsalis (Cactaceae) from eastern Brazil". Bradleya. 32 (32). British Cactus and Succulent Society: 2–12. doi:10.25223/brad.n32.2014.a12. ISSN 0265-086X. S2CID 90932884.
^ Bauer, Ralf; Korotkova, Nadja (2021-03-01). "Neotypification of Rhipsalis rhombea (Rhipsalideae, Cactaceae) and Its Taxonomic History". Haseltonia. 27 (1). Cactus and Succulent Society of America. doi:10.2985/026.027.0111. ISSN 1070-0048. S2CID 232081075.
^ Anderson (2001), pp. 22–24
^ ^a ^b Korotkova, Nadja (2011), Phylogeny and evolution of the epiphytic Rhipsalideae (Cactaceae) (PDF) (PhD thesis), Bonn{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ Barthlott, Wilhelm (1983), "Biogeography and Evolution in Neo- and Paleotropical Rhipsalinae (Cactaceae)", Sonderb. Naturwiss. Vereins Hamburg, 7: 241–248
^ Anderson (2001), p. 18

Literature

Anderson, Edward F. (2001), The Cactus Family, Portland, Oregon: Timber Press, ISBN 0-88192-498-9
Hunt, D.R., ed. (2006), The New Cactus Lexicon Text, Milborne Port: dh books, ISBN 0-9538134-5-2
Barthlott, W.; Taylor, N.P. (1995), "Notes towards a Monograph of Rhipsalideae (Cactaceae)", Bradleya, 13 (13): 43–79, doi:10.25223/brad.n13.1995.a7, S2CID 89883634