Night-blooming cereus flower

The 'tang hua' or, as I found out from google, the 'cereus' flower, is a plant with blooms that only flower for one night. The fragrance is heady and jasmine-like and the plant itself is something to behold. My parents have had their plant for 8 years, and it only started producing the night blooms in the past three years.

Even the buds are impressive - triffids anyone?

There's a chinese saying 'to bloom like a tang flower', used to describe someone who is has a short but brilliant life. Like a rock star, i guess.

I was there in the afternoon and returned after an event at midnight to witness these in full bloom. And after an hour of admiration, noticed that they were already starting to wilt. Wish I had a macro lens - it would've been cool to get some real closeups.

Labels: flowers

posted by Jing @ 6:14 PM