The morphology of
Rhipsalis is very variable. The plants can grow mostly pendent, few grow more or less upright or sprawling. There are three main stem shapes:
terete, angular and flattened. The stems are
succulent, but the degree of succulence varies between the species. Some have very thick stems (e.g.
Rhipsalis neves-armondii), whereas other have very thin, filiform stems (e.g.
Rhipsalis baccifera,
Rhipsalis clavata). In the majority of species,
spines are missing or occur only in the juvenile stage (this is most prominent in
Rhipsalis dissimilis).
Rhipsalis pilocarpa has stems and fruits densely covered by bristles, making this species easily distinguishable from all other
Rhipsalis. The
flowers are borne lateral or apical and are
actinomorphic with a varying number of
perianth segments,
stamens and
carpels. They are small, usually about 1 cm in diameter, white or whitish in most species. Yellowish flowers occur in
R. dissimilis and
R. elliptica and
R. hoelleri is the only
Rhipsalis species with red flowers. The fruits are always berries, they are whitish or coloured pink, red or yellow.
Vivipary has been observed in
R. micrantha and
R. baccifera. ==Taxonomy==