Cactus flower

A cactus plant in my backyard surprised me with tiny yellow flowers a few weeks after I arrested its prolific growth by chopping off chunks of the offshoots. It was an unenviable task having to risk being scratched by the numerous thorns and to have the unpleasant latex-like sap fall onto my hand. So it was the same experience when I tried to take close-up photos of its tiny flowers that I have not seen before.

Cactus flower

I am not particularly fond of cactus plants. So it was only with the appearance of a flower that I became interested. For me, flowers define the plant and when they are absent, my attention span is usually down to zero for any particular plant unless other aspects of the plant or tree is interesting.

An unusual cactus bloom

My cousin from Malacca sent me this photo of a flowering cactus in her garden. She said that the cactus was given to her 10 years ago and it is the first time that the cactus has flowered.

I used to have this kind of cactus some years back and sadly they perished from my over-zealous watering although I am aware that cactus do not need much water to live. What is even more unusual is that the flower has a stalk. Most photos of cactus that I have access to show the flowers on the top of the cactus itself and not separated from it as is the case with this particular plant.

Thanks to my cousin, I have something extraordinary to share today.

Epiphyllum oxypetallum - Queen of the night

Age shows in this photo as it was taken several years ago in my mother's garden. I used to call this flower the midnight flower because it only blooms at around 11pm and I will always remember the fragrance exuding from this lovely flower that the Chinese call 'Keng Hua". This plant is a kind of cactus and does not need soil to grow. I remember that some of my classmates from my childhood used the flat leaves as bookmarks.

http://www.flowersinsingapore.com/flowers6.htm