A couple of summers ago, my great friend Atilla gave me a cutting of what appeared to be a green stick, and made it very clear that this was an unusual and special plant. I was a bit dubious at the time, and over the past two years I’ve watched this stick shoot up to become a much taller stick (5 feet!!), occasionally transforming into flattened leaf-like things along the way. I’ve chopped it back several times, wondering what on earth this weird looking plant was ultimately going to do.
I’ve since learned it’s the Queen of the Night, otherwise known as an epiphyllum oxypetalum.
Saturday night past a little phallic protusion on the edge of a leaf caught my eye as I was watering my plants. A bud!! These ugly/beautiful/bizarre plants bloom rarely, and when they do, it’s for one night only. The bud opens at dusk, and the magnificent scented flowers apparently fade away by morning.
I don’t know how long it will take for this strangely sexual little nub to emerge and do its thing. I’m thinking of throwing a “Queen of the Night” party when it does. Stay tuned for updates.
A.K.A.: Queen of the Night, Night Blooming Cereus, Dutchman’s Pipe
Other Links:
— http://www.kammlott.net/Eoxypetalum.html
— http://www.epiphyllum.com/Epibase/epibase/species/Epiphyllum/oxypetalum.htm
— http://www.washjeff.edu/greenhouse/Eoxypetalum/
POLLENATRIX 