Vivipary is the germination of seed inside of fruit before it is separated from the mother plant. In the present study, the populations of several Cuban cactus species are explored in search of vivipary, and Leptocereus scopulophilus is used as a model species to evaluate the effectiveness of vivipary in the establishment of offspring. Vivipary is a relatively common phenomenon in Cuban cacti from different ecosystems with variable temperature, rainfall, and salinity, whose frequencies of population vivipary and average of viviparous seedlings per fruit are usually low. In L. scopulophilus, vivipary does not constitute a more efficient reproductive strategy that favors establishment, which is typically the limiting factor for the perpetuation of viviparous species. On the other hand, viviparous seedlings will be favored in environments with high levels of humidity and the availability of safe sites, which are sporadic in semiarid environments.
