The cactus plants in the Gran Chaco (Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia) are generally called tuna and this specific variety reina de la noche (queen of the night).

The plant remains often unnoticed in the forest, but can not be overseen when it blossoms only in the night and where its Spanish name originates.

[2] Harrisia bonplandii is stem scandent, clambering or sprawling and grows up leaning-climbing.

Harrisia bonplandii can be found in the southwest of Brazil, in Paraguay, in Bolivia and in the north of Argentina in the Chaco at elevations of 80–900 meters.

[4] Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose classified the type in 1920 as Genus Harrisia.