Etymology -Named in honour of Dr. Miguel Arrojado Lisboa, superintendent of the Brazilian Railways at the time that Britton and Rose described the genus in 1922.
This Brazil endemic is made up of species that grow in shrubby masses of thin cylindrical stems branching from the bottom. Stems in one species may reach 3 inches in diameter, but are much thinner in the others and can reach 6 1/2 feet tall. Close-set and bristly spines obscure the plant body which has small ribs underneath. Flowers come out of the very end of the plant each season creating punctuated growth rings as the stem will continue growing from the tip, leaving a collar of spines at between the new and old segments. The flowers are candy-like waxy tubes of brilliant color -pink, red, white, or yellow and last only one or two days and then turn black and fall off. Fruits are small juicy berries - pink, purple or red.