# epiphyllum oxypetalum



## McPaph (Jul 13, 2010)

It got attacked by slugs earlier in the year. They ate it up pretty good. This one only blooms at night and only once. Last year I only had two blooms. I was amazed at how many buds it has this year. Should be quite a show if alot bloom on the same night. I got lucky and a early one opened on the July 4th when everybody was over for a party. Didn't take any pictures. I have a picture from last year.







Last year


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## goldenrose (Jul 13, 2010)

:clap::clap: One of nature's weird & wonderful! :clap::clap:


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## NYEric (Jul 13, 2010)

Cool! They're always for sale on eBay as Orchid trees!


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## swamprad (Jul 13, 2010)

Wow, that's a lot of blooms! Mine is about the same size, but only had two blooms this year. How much sun does yours get?


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## Shiva (Jul 13, 2010)

I believe this is one of the night blooming species. Considering how short the flowers last, the picture must have been taken in the morning or late in the day. Anyway, very nice. Mine has not bloomed yet but it is not as big.


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## nikv (Jul 13, 2010)

I had one of these guys growing on a tree in the back yard in my previous home. It grew to be six feet tall and would have several flowers open on the same night. It was truly spectacular! I took a cutting with me when I moved but it ended up dying on me. Maybe I should pop over to eBay to see what's available. . . . .

Thanks for sharing!


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## jewel (Jul 13, 2010)

that is a lovely cactus!:clap: how old is it and where did you get it? do you keep other cactus species as well?


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## paphioboy (Jul 13, 2010)

Beautiful 'lady of the night'..  This is a nocturnal succulent quite commonly grown in Malaysia as a garden plant.. It is related to the crab/Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera/Zygocactus truncatus) and both are epiphytes naturally. The flower buds appear with lowering of temperature..


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## SlipperFan (Jul 13, 2010)

I wonder what critter of the night it attracts... (besides humans, that is)


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## jewel (Jul 14, 2010)

According to my cacti books the nocturnal flowering cacti are pollinated by moths and bats.


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## musiclovertony (Jul 14, 2010)

Wow that's a really pretty one!


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## Justin (Jul 14, 2010)

Does anyone know if these can bloom in low light? I've been growing mine indoors as houseplants ever since i badly sunburned one a few years ago. Still haven't bloomed any of my cuttings, but I have one that's getting close to size. My christmas cactus blooms in the same conditions so i am hoping the night blooming cereus will too.


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## KyushuCalanthe (Jul 14, 2010)

Justin said:


> Does anyone know if these can bloom in low light? I've been growing mine indoors as houseplants ever since i badly sunburned one a few years ago. Still haven't bloomed any of my cuttings, but I have one that's getting close to size. My christmas cactus blooms in the same conditions so i am hoping the night blooming cereus will too.



Hmm, I've seen nicely flowered specimens in the shade of live oaks in southwest Florida, but I can't say the conditions were really low light. Definitely shady though, and they were flowering like mad.


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## McPaph (Jul 15, 2010)

I got this as a cutting from a friend 2 years ago. Planted it in regular soil and it took off from there. It gets about 1 and a 1/2 hours of full sun around noon and about 2 hours of late afternoon sun in the summer. Other wise it gets not direct sun the rest of the year. When I was redoing my yard last year it got alot more sun than that, for a couple of month during summer and still did Okay, just turned a little yellow. I water it every other day with the R/O water with msu Fert. Not drenching it, just a splash. The sprinklers wet the leaves every morning. We have had sort of weird weather here, I think this year. So maybe that's why there's so many blooms. I counted 27. There's still new buds forming out of the leaves. The flowers last year, opened up one at 2 am and the other at 10 pm.


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## McPaph (Jul 15, 2010)

jewel said:


> that is a lovely cactus!:clap: how old is it and where did you get it? do you keep other cactus species as well?


I only ave a Christmas cactus growing in the green house. I have started getting into some succulents. I dont know to much about any of them.


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## jewel (Jul 15, 2010)

McPaph said:


> I only ave a Christmas cactus growing in the green house. I have started getting into some succulents. I dont know to much about any of them.



that's how it starts :evil: soon you'll have more cacti and succulents then you can shake a stick at!


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## SlipperFan (Jul 15, 2010)

jewel said:


> that's how it starts :evil: soon you'll have more cacti and succulents then you can shake a stick at!



Interesting. I had a large collection of succulents and cactii -- then I got interested in orchids and the succulents and cactii had to fine a new home.


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## jewel (Jul 15, 2010)

hmm, same thing happened to me with orchids and African violets but all of the sudden their numbers seem to be exploding for some unknown reason


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## McPaph (Jul 19, 2010)

Hi all
11 flowers opened at once last night. With all those flowers open. It was really fragrant in that area. It was quite nice. They opened up pretty early, they were all open by 9:00 pm. It was hard to get a good picture with my crummy camera and the cheapo light I have. I had to make some adjustments on photoshop to get it as close to how it looked.


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## likespaphs (Jul 19, 2010)

holy crap!
fantastic!


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## jewel (Jul 19, 2010)

stunning!:drool:


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## KyushuCalanthe (Jul 19, 2010)

Wow, really nice display! Bet it smells heavenly!


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## paphioboy (Jul 19, 2010)

very very nice...  Reminds me I need one..


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## jewel (Jul 20, 2010)

paphioboy said:


> very very nice...  Reminds me I need one..



ditto!


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## streetmorrisart (Jul 21, 2010)

Wow, really well done... I just love these and yours is magnificent!


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