Xerophyte

Description

The princess of the night (Selenicereus pteronthus) is one of the most famous night blooming cactus. It is a perennial, vinelike, clambering or scrambling, spiny, leafless epiphyte, with four-to-six-angled stems about 4 cm thick, the spines are conic 1-3 mm long, solitary or in clusters of two to four. The flowers are spectacular, very fragrant, trumpet-shaped nearly 30 cm long. The outermost petals are a dull bronze or purplish brown and surround an inner core of pure white petals. There are many stamens of light green to a cream while the style is off-white with a touch of green at the base. Around midnight the fragrant, flowers are at their alluring peak.Note. There is disagreement about the validity and identification of this species. It is often confused with Selenicereus grandiflorus and there are difficulty in distinguishing it from other species in the genus too.

Roots

Frequently aerial and adventitious.

Flowers

25 to 30 cm long, very fragrant, white or pale cream; the tube and throat 13 cm long, swollen above, 5 cm in diameter. Outer perianth-segments long, slender linear, 12 cm long, brown or purplish (rarely yellow). Inner perianth-segments white, oblanceolate to spatulate-oblong, 3 to 4 cm broad above, acuminate. Pericarpels and floral tubes with numerous scales and white hairs. Filaments numerous, greenish to cream-coloured, the upper row reaching forward upturned near the tip 6 cm long; lower stamens elongated unequal 8 to 12 cm long, weak, reclining on the lower side of the flower-tube and attached along the inner face of he tube for 7 to 8 cm. Tube-proper about 2 cm long, yellow within. Style 20 cm long, yellowish green, bronzed above, thick but weak; stigma-lobes numerous, linear. Areoles of ovary and flower tube bearing numerous scales and long, white, hairlike bristles, 10 to 12 mm long.

Blooming Season

Flowering year-round (in temperate climates fragrant flowers first appear in June and complete blooming by the end of the month). The flower starts opening around 10 P.M., is fully opened about mid-night and gradually withers about dawn.

Chromosome Number

2n = 22.

Spines

1 to 5, short, hard, conical, 1 to 3 mm long, dark and persistent (needle-like on immature stems); radial and central spines not distinguishable.

Stem

Stout, snakelike, sprawling or pendent, 1-3 m long, 2.5-5 cm in diameter, bluish green to purple, strongly 4 to 6-angled. Ribs of young branches acute, sometimes 2 to 3 mm high.

Fruits

Globular, red, 6 to 7 cm. in diameter, hidden by short (to 1 cm), yellowish, bristle-like spines and long, white hairlike spines.

Areoles

2-2.5 cm apart along ribs, with white wool and spines.