| One of the
many potted cactus Ed has nurtured, this six-foot sentinel stands at the
corner of Chris's carport. In spring of 2000 the flower pods appeared.
Then at dawn one June morning, when she walked to the car, Chris was greeted
by four spectacular blossoms, each one of them 5 or 6 inches in diameter. Ed wanted to wait a little while to get more
light before photographing the array, but when he returned a half-hour
later, the blooms had closed! Fortunately, on the
following morning he captured these photos of the one new bloom.
Further research has led
us to identify this as a Cereus peruvianus, a night-blooming
cactus native to Latin America. Each flower blooms one night only. At the
node of each flower will grow an egg-shaped edible pear, called a Peruvian
apple.
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