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A nice cactus


andsome
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The gallery still apears not to be accepting uploads. I thought that the flower lovers may like to see this slightly unusual cactus flower. There are several flowers in a year, but only one opens at a time, and dies after one day. The flower is about 3 inches diameter and opens on the end of a stem about 4 inches long. It is not completely uniform as can be seen. Note the centre.

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Cactus almost always have very beautiful flowers and most only survive for one day or even less (e.g. the night blooming cereus which opens at dusk and is dead by dawn).

Many are designed to be fertilised by moths - hence the night blooming - which are attracted by colours of wavelengths outside of the range of human visual perception. The reward for the moths for performing this service for the plant is a good drink of water which is at the base of the flower and which is a particularly rare item in the normal cactus habitat.

I grow cactus plants and have done for a very long time, most from seed. They can grow surprisingly quickly under conditions they are familiar with. I did try getting the flowers to set seed by "tickling" them with a brush but this consistently failed until someone told me that they are only receptive at night. Since then, I've collected hundreds of viable seeds.

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