Rhipsalis pentaptera

Description

Rhipsalis pentaptera is a very common epiphytic cactus in a cultivation, but almost undetectable in the wild. It is a member of the Epallagogonium subgenus. A plant with a drooping habitus with rigid shoots and a deep green epidermis. Its shoot members are 6-15 mm in diameter, strongly divided into 5-6 ribs, with developed areolas on the edges of the ribs. Its Areola develops 20 mm apart, mostly carrying 2 white pigs. Its creamy white flowers develop on the shoot edges, open during the day, forming groups of 1-4 per areola. Many of its stamens (25) do not coalesce with the petals, they are the same length as the pistil, and are as white as the pistil. Pericarpiuma bald, fruit 3 to 4 mm in diameter, white berry. For a long time, cactus researchers believed that the species was native to coastal forests from Brazil to Uruguay, but the plant has not been detected in the wild since the description until it was established in a 1918 neotype that the species had its original range in what is now Rio de Janeiro. fell into the territory of the metropolis. Individuals from the branches of garden trees have also been collected from São Conrado, a suburb of Rio de Janeiro. However, these individuals differ slightly from clones from the classical collection, have less soaring shoots, and resemble the species Rhipsalis sulcata.