Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith
ilmarinen - MODERATOR
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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2004
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Tonight my Night Blooming Cereus is blooming. It bloomed a few weeks back...and I missed it by a day. A second bloom aborted and fell off before it matured. This one has been getting fatter every day for a week. It started opening about 8PM.
The time laps photos are from about 7PM until 8AM. The actual opening takes about 2 hours, with most of it opened in a one hour span. You can actually watch it move as it opens.
The "spider" ,as I call it, that sticks out the front is amazing. It is a very fancy stigma designed by Mother nature to attract bats who would pollinate the flower when they swoop in to catch the "spider" or sip the nectar. As the bats go from flower to flower, they get pollen on their fur. This is brushed on the spider-like stigma as they check out each flower, pollinating them all. This works well in a jungle filled with bats, but in the city, a huge and beautiful moth called Atlas does it instead of bats. The tunnel going up the flower goes all the way up the stalk to the leaf that it dangles from . The stalk is actually the style ( oviduct), and the little nub where it attaches to the leaf is the ovule ( where the fruit will grow if pollinated). If pollinated a strange purple fruit grows called a dragon fruit. It tastes a bit like kiwi fruit.
Equally amazing are the anthers and filaments that make up the stamen. They look like metallic gold on silk threads.
The flower is nearly a foot across, and the sepals ( the curly thin petals sticking out the back) go equally as far backwards.
The main petals are as pure white as you will ever see .......... and the scent is amazing. It permeates the whole deck area and yard. It is sort of a blend of magnolia and citronella.
First, shots of its development up to now: Last week, Mon, Wed, Thur, and one of last years shots.
The time laps photos are from about 7PM until 8AM. The actual opening takes about 2 hours, with most of it opened in a one hour span. You can actually watch it move as it opens.
The "spider" ,as I call it, that sticks out the front is amazing. It is a very fancy stigma designed by Mother nature to attract bats who would pollinate the flower when they swoop in to catch the "spider" or sip the nectar. As the bats go from flower to flower, they get pollen on their fur. This is brushed on the spider-like stigma as they check out each flower, pollinating them all. This works well in a jungle filled with bats, but in the city, a huge and beautiful moth called Atlas does it instead of bats. The tunnel going up the flower goes all the way up the stalk to the leaf that it dangles from . The stalk is actually the style ( oviduct), and the little nub where it attaches to the leaf is the ovule ( where the fruit will grow if pollinated). If pollinated a strange purple fruit grows called a dragon fruit. It tastes a bit like kiwi fruit.
Equally amazing are the anthers and filaments that make up the stamen. They look like metallic gold on silk threads.
The flower is nearly a foot across, and the sepals ( the curly thin petals sticking out the back) go equally as far backwards.
The main petals are as pure white as you will ever see .......... and the scent is amazing. It permeates the whole deck area and yard. It is sort of a blend of magnolia and citronella.
First, shots of its development up to now: Last week, Mon, Wed, Thur, and one of last years shots.
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