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Updated: June 13, 2025
In some, such for instance as the Rhipsalis, the flowers are small, and therefore less easy to dissect than those of Phyllocactus. The stems of Cactuses show a very wide range of variation in size, in form, and in structure.
In heated structures the selection of kinds may be made according to the space available, and to the conditions under which they will be expected to grow. The aspect is due south. When grown on their own roots, the Epiphyllums, as well as the pendent-growing kinds of Rhipsalis, and several species of Cereus, may be placed in baskets and suspended from the roof.
Although the branches of these plants are usually altogether unlike the rest of the Order, yet occasionally they develop joints which are furrowed, and bear clusters of spines exactly as in the commoner forms of Cactuses. The geographical distribution of Rhipsalis is exceptional.
Hitherto we have been dealing with those genera which have thick fleshy stems; but there still remain the genera Rhipsalis, Epiphyllum, and Phyllocactus, which are not capable of bearing the long period of drought advised for the former.
The same rule applies to Rhipsalis, none of the species of which are happy when kept long dry.
In this respect, these plants and the Rhipsalis are exceptions among Cactuses, as all the others are safest when kept dry during the cold, dull weather between September and April.
It is the only genus of Cactuses that has representatives in the Old World, excluding, of course, those which have been introduced by man. The bulk of the kinds of Rhipsalis occur in Central and South America, and the West Indies; but one viz., R. Cassytha is also found in Africa, Mauritius, Madagascar, and Ceylon, as well as in tropical America.
In the Euphorbias we find a number of kinds, especially amongst those which inhabit the dry, sandy plains of South Africa, which bear a striking resemblance to many of the Cactuses, particularly the columnar ones and the Rhipsalis. Amongst Stapelias, too, we meet with plants which mimic the stem characters of some of the smaller kinds of Cactus.
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