R. commune (common); Bot.  Mag. 3763.—­Stem straggling, branching freely, growing to a length of several feet.  Branches jointed; joints varying in length, triangular, the angles compressed, and notched along the margins; notches regular, and bearing tufts of whitish hair.  Strong plants produce joints over 1 in. in width.  Flowers white, tinged with purple, springing singly from the notches, and composed of eight to twelve sepals and petals.  Stamens and stigma erect, white, the latter four-rayed.  This species is a native of Brazil, and was introduced in 1830; Flowering-season, October to December.  It may be grown in a warm greenhouse, and treated as a basket-plant or as a small pot-shrub.  Syn.  Lepismium commune.

R. crispata (curled).—­Stem branching freely.  Branches jointed and flat, like Epiphyllum.  Margins of joints notched, and slightly curled.  Flowers small, white, produced singly, in November and December, in the notches on the younger joints.  Fruits white, pea-like, rather rarely ripened.  A free-growing, compact stove shrub, with a bright green, healthy appearance.  The similarity of its branches to Epiphyllum led to its being included in that genus by Haworth.

R. c. purpurea (purple).—­This variety has larger, broader joints, which are bronzy-purple in colour.

R. fasciculata (cluster-branched); Bot.  Mag. 3079.—­Stems terete, as thick as a goose-quill.  Branches usually in clusters, and sometimes jointed, green, with small red dots and little tufts of fine, hair-like bristles.  Flowers white, produced in March, springing irregularly from the older branches, small, star-like.  Fruit a white berry.  From its habit of growing on trees, and the character of its stems and fruit, this plant has been called parasitical.  It is, however, only indebted to the tree on which is grows for moisture, for it thrives if planted in a pot or basket in ordinary soil, and kept in a stove temperature.  It is a native of Brazil, and was introduced in 1831.

R. floccosa (woolly).—­Stems as in R. Cassytha, but thicker, longer, and with the branchlets in compact clusters on the ends of the long, arching branches.  The dots marking the position of the microscopic hair-tufts are in small depressions.  Flowers and fruit as in R. Cassytha, of which this might reasonably be called a variety.  This species requires warm-house temperature.

R. funalis (cord-like); Fig. 89.—­Stem straggling, branched.  Branches numerous, composed of long, terete joints, rather thicker than a goose-quill, glaucous-green, slightly roughened on the surface, with depressions for the dot-like cushions.  Branchlets usually fascicled and spreading.  Flowers white, produced in spring, on the sides of the young joints, 1 in. across, large for the genus.  Introduced from Central America about 1830.  An easily-grown plant, sturdy, rather straggling, but very free-flowering.  In old specimens the branches become semi-pendulous.  It grows best when kept in a warm house.  Syn.  R. grandiflora.