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Species library › Rhipsalis › Rhipsalis baccifera
Succulents Well documented

Rhipsalis baccifera

The mistletoe cactus: an epiphytic cactus with hanging, pencil-thin stems and white berries. It is the only cactus native outside the Americas, ranging through tropical America, Africa, Madagascar and Sri Lanka. In cultivation it is an easy hanging-basket plant if you treat it as a forest epiphyte, not a desert cactus.

Rhipsalis baccifera
Photo: Raffi Kojian, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day IntermediateTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Ordinary room humidityBand in Plantistry
Light Dappled lightDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
Expects a seasonal restGrows on trees (epiphyte)

Where it grows wild

Hangs from tree branches, and sometimes rocks, in humid to seasonally dry tropical forest, from coastal lowlands into lower montane forest.

Recorded from 5 to 1,920 m, with a median of 534 m.

MexicoCentral AmericaCaribbeanFloridaTropical South AmericaTropical AfricaMadagascarMascarenesSri Lanka

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates
✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it
✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light
✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it
✓ Substrate and airflow
✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

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More Rhipsalis

Rhipsalis pilocarpa Rhipsalis crispata Rhipsalis floccosa Rhipsalis cereoides Rhipsalis elliptica Rhipsalis hoelleri Rhipsalis oblonga Rhipsalis pacheco-leonis Rhipsalis paradoxa Rhipsalis russellii Rhipsalis sulcata Rhipsalis agudoensis All 45 →

Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY-SA 3.0 licence, unmodified.