Night Blooming Cereus
9:40am - 6-14-2010
Flowers all gone now.
Remember our 1st bloom picture, at the very top of Sunday morn?
The one on the bottom right?
Here it is now (circled above), all closed up for business until next year.
All these closed up cereus flowers will now die away.
Only the cactus branch part of the plant will survive,
until next years bloom.
The cactus will resemble death in a month or so... all gray and
brittle looking, as many cacti do. But underneath its skin they are alive,
hidden reservoirs of water stored for the coming scorching summers.
Monday, 6:30pm, 6-14-2010
Note the flowers still closed up, but looking better than earlier today.
Amazing 1 day Desert wonder!
More info from Wikipedia, Night blooming Cereus.
"BLOOM NIGHT" at Tohono Chul Park, a yearly event, 2010.
Bloom night article in 2008, via Tucsoncitizen.com, When the cactus
bloomed on June 19, 2008. and some 2,000 people were there at Tohono Chul Park.
BLOOM NIGHT Tohono Chul Park 2007, a yearly event.
Shot of same plant, 6-20-2007, 1am, by John Wilder.
Notice how deathly ill 1/2 the cactus look, all brown brittle looking?
Some years it is amazing that they bloom at all, given the condition of their host. Half of the cactus branch look brittle dead.
The rest are barely green, brown green really, meaning little water content in 2007. This aspect changes from
year to year.