The night blooming Cereus repandus has been putting on a show this week.

5:30 a.m.


7:30 a.m. When we went for our morning walk the flowers were still open and covered with Gnats.


9:00 a.m. The blooms have closed, not to open again. This is a spent bloom from two nights ago, it will turn completely black, become a soggy mess and fall to the ground.

Lovely

That is neat. Is it smelly. Does it normally call in the gnats as pollinators.

Thanks tarev & Cinta.

Cinta: It's a fragrant bloom, not smelly. Night blooming plants attract night pollinators (Moth's, Gnats, Bats etc.) This is the first time I've noticed gnats on the blooms.

Gorgeous! I have noticed they seem to like the full moon.

Thanks Hetty ... hmm, I never thought about it (full moon) but it sure did put on more of a show this time around!

Here is mine - I should have gotten up earlier, at 7.30 am this was pretty much done

Wow ... I can tell from your photo that your plant is big. I'm not sure how long the one has been planted in my yard, it was here when we moved here about 9 months ago. My plant is not very large at all, a single stem about 6' tall. I've never liked thorny/cactusy plants and I was going to dig this one out when we first moved in but a friend decided she didn't want it and once I saw the blooms I was hooked. I eventually might get my husband to re-locate it to a different area of the yard though ... it's right beside the walkway and if it grows wider it could be dangerous!

I was at Home Depot purchasing orchid bark a few days ago and saw that they had a couple of small Apple Cactus for sale ... was tempted to buy one but decided one was enough.

The plant I got seeds from was nick named apple cactus; was told it was Cereus peruvianus. Picture below;
Is this the same or simular to yours?

Stush: Wow, that is a humongous and beautiful cactus! I don't know anything about cactus but Cereus peruvianus is a synonym for Cereus hildmannianus and that beauty in your photo looks a lot like Cereus hildmmanianus, possibly variety monstrose.

C. hildmannianus: http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dend...

C. hildmannianus var. monstrose: http://www.phoenixdesertnurser...


Cereus peruvianus is also apparently a synonym for Cereus repandus (the cactus in my photo.) There may be a lot of them with the common names of "Apple Cactus" because of the fruit that resembles little apples.

Lin, I posted how lucky I was with the seedlings. They are over 1 inch tall now and I gave the 2 inch ones out already. I still got maybe 50 or so plants left. And all from one small 'Apple'.

so adorable!

Very cool! Congratulations on all those cacti babies!