Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Night Blooming Cereus

As I took a walk about the park last evening, I came upon a family of the Night Blooming Cereus. With the ten buds opening at six last evening, I knew it was going to be a real show this morning. About six this morning this was the cactus greeting.


There are ten blooms on the cactus. Unusual that all the buds bloomed at the same time. Usually, the blooms are spaced out over a couple of days. Here is a closeup of three of the blossoms.


Finally a closeup of a single blossom.



As a night blooming cereus blooming for a single night, by early afternoon the blooms were drying up and curling inward.

3 comments:

  1. Lloyd - do you know what their primary pollinator species is? If they're night bloomers, then perhaps it's moths of some sort?

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    Replies
    1. Yes. Moths are certainly one of the pollinators. Some species of bats also provide the pollination. Since they are still a blossom at early light, there may actually be a bee or another flying insect helping with the pollination.

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  2. Beautiful! As are all cactus blossoms, really. Your timing was perfect, thanks for the photos. I find that little flower coming out of the center of each blossom interesting.

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