Cactus Flower

the potted cactus

My mother gave me a cutting from her cereus cactus.  I think she called it a Moon Flower.  I found out, it's called Hooker's Orchid Cactus, named for botanist W.J. Hooker by his good friend C. Darwin.  I have had this plant for about a year and these are the first blooms.  I noticed that I had already missed one bloom, but saw two Saturday night and was amazed at how fragrant they are.  The flowers are short lived; A bud begin opening after sunset, stays beautiful for one night, then wilts after sun rise.  On Sunday night there was one flower, more beautiful than the two the night before.  There are still two more buds that will either both bloom tonight (Monday) or maybe one Monday and one Tuesday.  Funny how such pretty flowers come from such an unattractive plant.  You can read about them here and here.

Saturday's flower

Sunday's bloom

Sunday's bloom

Photos taken with my iPhone 4