Day in the life of..

[RioBravoReptiles]

.. a large-flowering epiphytic Cereus cacti..
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Saturday morning..
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.. afternoon
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.. night.
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The unopened buds of this cacti are about a foot long when fully mature.
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Have a great day.

[leoares27]

pretty impressive!

[speerbeer]

NICE!! Do they also give off a scent or smell to attract insects or birds maybe??

[scink]

saweeet

[RioBravoReptiles]

Originally Posted by speerbeer

NICE!! Do they also give off a scent or smell to attract insects or birds maybe??

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Thanks.. this particular flower has no discernable aroma except perhaps a general vegetable smell. I don't know what pollinates them but I suspect it to be something specific, that's not always around. Some years out of dozens of blooms there will be no fruits at other times a large percentage of the flowers become successfully pollinated. Manually pollinating the flowers brings little success.
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Good questions.

[speerbeer]

Wow your answer just makes me more curious on how this plant reproduces haha. I'll have to go bother Mr. Google now....

Thanks for the pics and info

[speerbeer]

Ok

I've done some quick googling and found some info but none specific to this exact species.

Many of it's family members are however pollinated bij moths and or bats. How cool is that!!

Then again as it flowers at night it was to be expected I guess.

[RioBravoReptiles]

This is fairly good inflorescence of that type of Cereus..
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This is a non-epiphyte cereus growing here as well..
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This is another climbing Cereus, it has blooms as big as or even larger than the other. The plant itself is much more slender (and more spiny)..
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Enjoy!

[vfoerster]

My mom has a night bloomer in her cactus garden. It is pretty interesting.

[Brandon28]

Gus, your backyard is much more interesting than mine.