Species
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Austrocylindropuntia subulata (Muehlenpf.) Backeb.

Devil's Rope, Eve's Needle Cactus, Eve's Pin, long-spine cactus

Climate known 58 photographs Cactus or succulent
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Austrocylindropuntia subulata is a species of cactus native to the Peruvian Andes. The Latin specific epithet subulata means "awl-like", referring to the shape of the rudimentary leaves. It is also known by its common names as Eve's pin and Eve's needle.

Text from Wikipedia, “Austrocylindropuntia subulata”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Austrocylindropuntia

Austrocylindropuntia is a genus of cacti with eight recognized species as of December 2025, which were once included in the genus Opuntia. All are native to South America, although some have been introduced elsewhere.

Text from Wikipedia, “Austrocylindropuntia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Cactaceae
Described by
(Muehlenpf.) Backeb.
Native to
Bolivia, Peru
Wild records
407 in range· 74 open

At a glance

Warmest month
15°C
Oct, mean day; nights 4 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1017mm/yr
8 wet months · peak Jan 194 mm (CHELSA)
Light
33–44DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a cactus or succulent by Cactaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, November to March at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (3.0 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 1017 mm a year, wettest January at 194 mm, driest July at 11 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 33 to 44 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -1.6 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent by Cactaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, November to March at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (3.0 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (769 mm of 1017 mm) falls in November to March. The temperature curve is flat, 3.0 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; with a flat temperature curve there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1017 mm a year, wettest January at 194 mm, driest July at 11 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1017 mm a year at the habitat, 769 mm of it November to March. Wettest month January at 194 mm, driest July at 11 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 610 mm to 1538 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 33 to 44 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 33 to 44 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 28, the highest 90th-percentile month 51).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -1.6 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -1.6 °C, the absolute minimum -3.6 °C, about 14 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 21.5 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 1.4 °C in July (across the envelope cells -2.1 °C to 6.9 °C), warmest day 14.9 °C in October (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -1.6 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 57 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 13 °C in Jun to 15 °C in Oct; mean night from 1 °C in Jul to 6 °C in Feb. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 1017 mm of rain a year, most in Jan. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 178 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -3.6 °C and the 99th-percentile day 21.5 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-5°10°15°20°25°frost21.5° 99th-percentile day (undated)-3.6° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 33–44RH 57–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 178 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C14 / 12–1814 / 12–1714 / 12–1714 / 12–1714 / 11–1713 / 11–1713 / 11–1714 / 11–1814 / 12–1815 / 12–1815 / 12–1814 / 12–18
Night °C6 / 3–96 / 3–106 / 3–95 / 2–93 / -1–82 / -2–71 / -2–72 / -1–73 / -0–84 / 1–95 / 2–96 / 2–9
Rain mm194 / 116–303178 / 116–269167 / 102–23672 / 34–13122 / 7–5612 / 5–3111 / 4–2620 / 8–4039 / 16–7272 / 18–11989 / 28–136141 / 69–196
DLI39 / 33–4638 / 32–4537 / 31–4236 / 32–4035 / 30–3833 / 28–3734 / 29–3837 / 33–4240 / 36–4743 / 37–5144 / 37–5142 / 34–49
RH %66 / 61–6966 / 61–7066 / 61–7063 / 59–6859 / 52–6557 / 48–6357 / 47–6257 / 49–6260 / 51–6561 / 51–6662 / 53–6663 / 57–67

Each figure is the median across the 178 grid cells holding the 395 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1997:2067 (-9.875, -76.625). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -3.6 °C, 1st-percentile night -1.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 21.5 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 178 distinct grid cells holding the 395 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1997:2067 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -10.00_-76.875, lapse-corrected -474 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 3621 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBolivia, Peru· introduced: Portugal, Sardegna, Spain, Albania, Greece, Italy, Sicilia, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Canary Is., Madeira, Kenya, Cape Provinces, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Northern Provinces, Madagascar, East Aegean Is., Colombia, Ecuador
Kew's description“succulent shrub” · “desert or dry shrubland”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-13.513, -71.97 · in the densest population, 282 records (69% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 407 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 74 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 245 km away. 831 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 12 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 407 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Austrocylindropuntia subulataAustrocylindropuntia subulataAustrocylindropuntia subulataAustrocylindropuntia subulataAustrocylindropuntia subulataAustrocylindropuntia subulataAustrocylindropuntia subulataAustrocylindropuntia subulata

Photographs: (c) zebedeugalinha, some rights reserved (CC BY) (7); (c) Tim, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Austrocylindropuntia subulata, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Distribution and socio-ecological impacts of the invasive alien cactus Opuntia stricta in eastern Africa
Ross T. Shackleton, Arne Witt, Francis M. Piroris, Brian W. van Wilgen (2017) · Biological Invasions
A second update to the checklist of the vascular flora alien to Italy
Gabriele Galasso, Fabio Conti, Lorenzo Peruzzi, Alessandro Alessandrini (2024) · Plant Biosystems - An International Journal Dealing with all Aspects of Plant Biology
Exotic naturalized flora of continental Portugal – A reassessment
Helena Freitas, João Domingues De Almeida (2006) · Complutensian Scientific Journals (Complutense University of Madrid)
Resolving a Prickly Situation: Involving Stakeholders in Invasive Cactus Management in South Africa
Ana Novoa, Haylee Kaplan, John R. Wilson, David M. Richardson (2016) · Environmental Management
How well do species distribution models predict occurrences in exotic ranges?
Dat Tien Nguyen, Brian Leung (2022) · Global Ecology and Biogeography
La flora alóctona de la Comunidad Valenciana (España)
Mario Sanz Elorza, Daniel Guillot Ortiz, Vicente I. Deltoro (2011) · Botanica Complutensis
Alien flora in Calabria (Southern Italy): an updated checklist
Giovanni Spampinato, Valentina Lucia Astrid Laface, Giandomenico Posillipo, Ana Cano-Ortíz (2022) · Biological Invasions
Native range size and growth form in Cactaceae predict invasiveness and impact
Ana Novoa, Sabrina Kumschick, David M. Richardson, Mathieu Rouget (2016) · NeoBiota
Leaf and Stem CO2 Uptake in the Three Subfamilies of the Cactaceae
Park S. Nobel, Terry L. Hartsock (1986) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Extraction and optimization of Austrocylindropuntia subulata powder as a novel green coagulant
Khadija Meftah, Said Meftah, Hajar Lamkhanter, Taoufiq Bouzid (2024) · Desalination and Water Treatment
Global Actions for Managing Cactus Invasions
Ana Novoa, Giuseppe Brundu, Michael D. Day, Vicente I. Deltoro (2019) · Plants
Comparative Analysis of the Alien Vascular Flora of Sardinia and Corsica
Selena Puddu, Lina Podda, Olga Mayoral García-Berlanga, Alain Delage (2016) · Notulae Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici Cluj-Napoca

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 37 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.