Spiny columnar cacti from South America with bright tubular flowers. Stems may grow upward, sideways, or trailing. The upward growing types may become shrubs or sometimes trees. Flowers may be red, orange, yellow or green; may appear at various times of year; and are pollinated by hummingbirds. Fruit is small, globose, and fleshy.

The genus name refers to the nearly closed (tubular) flowers. It currently contains a few dozen species. It no longer contains Cephalocleistocactus chrysocephalus, which is very similar but develops a cephalium.

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