Name and provenance
The accepted name is Pfeiffera miyagawae Barthlott & Rauh, with historical names including Lepismium miyagawae and Rhipsalis miyagawae. POWO records its native occurrence in Bolivia. The 2010 revision discusses uncertainty about the locality in the original description and a confirmed later collection from La Paz department, south of La Asunta. That specimen was collected in 2003 at 750 m. [2-WWW] [Korotkova et al. 2010, POWO record 282575-2, 12 October 2026, p. 165]
Diagnostic features
The stems are ribbed and bear conspicuous spines. The key gives flowers approximately 4 cm in diameter, intensely orange, with shimmering tepals. The outer basal floral tissues carry prominent long dark spines. In P. monacantha, the orange flowers are smaller, and this region is usually unarmed or bears only a few bristles. [Korotkova et al. 2010, pp. 161, 165, species key]
Relationships
P. miyagawae belonged to the same main lineage as P. ianthothele and P. monacantha. The analytical method affected the inferred relationships within this trio. The Bayesian tree indicated a closer relationship with P. monacantha, while parsimony yielded a more weakly supported relationship with P. ianthothele. [Korotkova et al. 2010, p. 161]
Synonyms and names in the literature
Lepismium miyagawae · Rhipsalis miyagawae [2-WWW]