The core of the Cactaceae consists of the Cactoideae sub family. Genera here are often disputed with their classification, being clumped and separated, split and joined and renamed with each study. For the average grower this group contains 3 main types of plant -globular and /or elongated bubble cacti, columnar cerei, and epiphytes.
In laymans terms we are going to look at
-Cacteae, a tribe of bubble and barrel cacti from North America
-Cereae, a tribe of cerei and bubble cacti from the Carribean and parts of South America
-Echinocereae, a very diverse and widely distributed tribe, having mainly cerei, with a few epiphytes and bubble cacti in between(this group is the one with the heaviest makeover) B
-Trichocereae, a South American tribe of cerei and bubble cacti
-Notocacteae, a tribe of exclusively bubble cacti from south america
-Hylocereeae, epiphytes from Central and South America
-Rhipsalideae, segment growing epiphytes mainly from South America
-Browningieae, South American cerei.
The oddballs here would be the monotypic and isolated Blossfeldia
Whose members are only 2cm when mature, if ungrafted
and the obscure Lymanbensonieae(formerly Calymmanthium)
