Last Night was the Night - Amazing Photos

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

My Night Blooming Cereus bloomed last night. It starts as a red stalk off a leaf and it just hangs there for a couple weeks. It fattens a bit, and then all of a sudden it swells up and starts to open. It lasts one night only, and opens to a huge alien looking flower between sunset and midnight. By morning it is spent and hanging limp. In the center of the flower is the alien part. It looks like the jaws from Alien with hundreds of little alien critters behind it ready to jump out.

 

[weo]

This is my first time around the grinder, and that's pretty cool Stacy. Thanks for sharing.

 

[A.McPherson]

Very cool! What pollinates it?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Large moths and bats. If they get pollinated, the fruit is called a dragon fruit.

The night blooming cereus I have doesn't look much like a cactus, but that is what it is (hylocereus undatus). They are tropical cacti, which are usually tree or rock climbers. If you have ever been to the Caribbean islands, you probably say these funny wiry cacti growing all over the trees like vines. They are a similar species. Some of the other cereus cousin species are normal desert and sub-tropical cacti.

 

[A.McPherson]

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing!