The plant branches from the base and arches downwards, being altogether some 1 m (3 ft) long.

[2][4] Disocactus ackermannii is native to the states of Chiapas, Oaxaca, Puebla, and Veracruz in southern Mexico.

It inhabits cloud forests in the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca and Chiapas Highlands between 1,800 and 2,500 meters elevation.

[1] The species was originally named Epiphyllum ackermannii by Adrian Hardy Haworth in 1829.

[5] Disocactus ackermannii has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.