Wednesday, September 12, 2007

last night, on 9/11, the night blooming cereus opened for business! this photo was taken about 10pm. i got up at 3am to see it still blooming, but by 7am it was drooping. the scent was so strong and tropical! i wonder if any of our local bats tried to pollinate it? the flower was 8 inches in diameter.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Holy cow! That was really worth getting up for!

Anonymous said...

that is devotion!!! very impressive flower. does it last longer in the tropics?

Allison

em said...

Thanks for the comments. I believe the flower only lasts for one day, but a plant can have more than one flower. My Cereus is quite small, only in a 7 inch pot with a few leaves about 3 feet tall. I'm thinking of putting it in a larger pot next spring.

Jim said...

Really cool looking. I didn't know bats pollinated flowers.

em said...

thanks, jp. bats are important pollinators, tending to pollinate tall plants with big flowers and few leaves, like cacti.