Rhipsalis salicornioides (also called Hatiora salicornioides, Dancing Bones Cactus, Drunkard's Dream, Spice Cactus) is originally a forest cactus, growing as epiphyte

Epiphyte

An epiphyte is a plant that grows upon another plant non-parasitically or sometimes upon some other object , derives its moisture and nutrients from the air and rain and sometimes from debris accumulating around it, and is found in the temperate zone and in the...

s at elevations between 0 and 1850 meters in Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

. It is sometimes grown both indoors and outdoors as an ornamental.

The plant is made of many-branched stems that are up to 60 cm in length. A stem consists of smaller segments with a length of up to 3 cm. The segment has a shape that resemble a bottle

Bottle

A bottle is a rigid container with a neck that is narrower than the body and a "mouth". By contrast, a jar has a relatively large mouth or opening. Bottles are often made of glass, clay, plastic, aluminum or other impervious materials, and typically used to store liquids such as water, milk, soft...

. The contorted stems may account for the common names "Dancing Bones Cactus" and "Drunkard's Dream", or the bottle shape of the segments may account for the latter.

Flowers

Rhipsalis salicornioides has small deep yellow flowers that develop to translucent berries with a reddish end.

Synonymy

Other Latin names for Rhipsalis salicornioides are:
Hatiora salicornioides var. stricta, Hariota stricta, Hariota salicornioides var. villigera, Hariota villigera, Rhipsalis villigera, Rhipsalis salicornioides var. villigera, Rhipsalis salicornioides var. stricta, Hatiora salicornioides var. villigera, Rhipsalis stricta, Rhipsalis bambusoides, Rhipsalis salicornioides var. bambusoides, Hariota bambusoides, Hatiora bambusoides, Hariota salicornioides var. bambusoides.

Uncertain synonym for Rhipsalis salicornioides: Rhipsalis teres.

The generic name Hatiora is an anagram of Hariota, honoring Thomas Hariot

Thomas Harriot

Thomas Harriot was an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer, and translator. Some sources give his surname as Harriott or Hariot or Heriot. He is sometimes credited with the introduction of the potato to Great Britain and Ireland...

, an English scientist, historian, and mentor of Sir Walter Raleigh

Walter Raleigh

Sir Walter Raleigh was an English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer. He is also well known for popularising tobacco in England....

.^{calhortsociety.org}. The species name salicornoides comes from its shape similar to Salicornia.

External links

• Page from Anwyl Bromeliads with photographs of the plant and flowers
• plantoftheweek.org
• cactiguide.com
• TopTropicals.com