Cereus Night Blooming Cactus

My smaller Cereus cactus bloomed the other night. I was hoping to put a webcam attached to a Raspberry Pi computer to time lapse photograph it opening and closing during the night. The night the bloom opened I only got the camera set up late in the morning so the bloom pod had already mostly closed.

I did capture a small about of video of it for several hours which I need to figure out how to edit and put on YouTube.

Interesting enough it looks like amazon.com sells seeds for a blue variety of this cactus.

See my previous posts about this cactus here:
http://poppular.blogspot.com/2009/03/night-flower-of-cactus.html

http://poppular.blogspot.com/2009/07/night-flower-of-cereus-cactus.html

http://poppular.blogspot.com/2013/08/cactus-ready-to-bloom.html

http://poppular.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-cereus-night-blooming-cactus.html

Cactus Ready to Bloom

This cactus only blooms for one night so it is hard to see the flower unless you want to stay up till 3 am.

The Cereus Night Blooming Cactus

The Cereus peruvianus cactus bloomed on August 17, 2012. These pictures were taken about 11 PM EST and the flower probably fully opened up around 2 AM. It then closes by the time the sun is up. I assume the plant does this to conserve water being a desert plant.

Prickly Pear Cactus Flowers

Pictures of two yellow flowers from a blooming prickly pear cactus (Opuntia). The cactus was blooming in May 2012. Learn more about these cactus at http://opuntiads.com/O/

Cactus with Leaves

Learn more about this plant at the Backyard Nature web site.  It is known as the False Cactus, Candelabra Cactus and Dragon Bones.

The Cereus peruvianus cactus bloomed last night. The picture was taken late after a short rain shower. The bloom only lasts one night. If I was really on the ball, I would have brought the cactus inside and set the camera to interval timed shots during the night to record the bloom opening and then closing.

Night Flower of Cereus Cactus

You have to get up late at night to photograph this cactus. It is probably a Cereus peruvianus. The bloom only lasts one night and it will probably be fully open by 5 AM. It will then close up when the sun is rising and the spent bloom will fall off several days later.

I did not have the best of lighting so I ended up using the flash which brings out the whites on this flower too much.

Close ups of the inside of the flower.

All pictures taken in Louisville, Kentucky.

Night Flower of Cactus

I am not sure what the name of this cactus is but I have had it for decades. It was maybe 15 cm (4 inches) tall when I bought it now it is over 210 cm (6 feet). The flower only opens at night and I think it only opens one night. I will take time interval pictures again tonight. Last night, I took these pictures and then thought I had set the camera to take a picture every 15 minutes for 10 hours. Unfortunately, I did not set up the Canon intervalometer correctly. I should have taken the first picture to start the process going but did not.

The pictures shown at this Photo Camel site taken by Matrix Imagery seem to match what I have. If they do match, then my cactus is a Cereus peruvianus or Cereus uruguayanus. It is also has some other names like Night Blooming Cereus or Peruvian Apple according to this Plant-Care website.

Cactus Flower

Here is the bud of a cactus flower. The cactus has been in the sun room this winter and maybe the warmer air and higher humidity triggered the plant to get ready to bloom.

A Night Cactus Flower

Here is what is left of a cactus flower that blooms at night.