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Rhipsalis pilocarpa is an epiphytic cactus from Brazil with slender, pendent green stems and fragrant white flowers. It is grown as a hanging houseplant and is easiest in bright, filtered light with careful watering.
Rhipsalis pilocarpa, the hairy-fruited wickerware cactus, is a species of flowering plant in the cactus family that is endemic to Brazil. Scarce in the wild, it is known only in a small number of isolated locations. Its status is listed as "vulnerable" by the IUCN Red List. However, it is cultivated as an ornamental houseplant and as such has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Relatively easy to cultivate, R. pilocarpa grows best in partial shade, imitating its natural environment. It is particularly suitable as a hanging plant. With a minimum temperature of 10 °C (50 °F) it requires the protection of glass in temperate locations, at least during the winter months. The plant thrives acidic soil, good light and well drained (e.g. 2 part peat moss, 2 for 1 part of sand, with small bark chips added to increase the drainage and as a carbon source
in a period of growth). These plants have low nutrient requirements in nature, so balanced commercial fertilizers should be diluted to half the recommended concentration on the label.
This epiphyte is native to Brazil, where it lives in tropical subtropical or tropical forests, hanging or hanging on branches or growing in the hollow of old trees. The main threat to the species is the rapid decline of the primary tropical forest (destruction and fragmentation of habitats, deforestation, etc.). Therefore, the species is classified as vulnerable.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Rhipsalis pilocarpa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
