Friday 10 July 2020

Epiphyllum Oxypetalum aka Queen of the night

Epiphyllum Oxypetalum, or fondly known as the ‘Queen of the Night’ is actually a specie of cactus, and one of the most cultivated species in the genus. They are hardy plants. I have one for many years now. They are easy to grow and need minimum care. They are not afraid of sunlight. Just water them regularly, and they are happy.

Epiphyllum Oxypetalum starts to bloom in the early evening, reached full bloom by midnight, and wilt by dawn.

Recently, the leaves of my plant turned yellow and brown on me. I was perplexed. What could be wrong? I wondered. Finally, I figured out what the problem was. The leaves were resting on the iron bar on the corridor wall, and the heated bar under the direct sunlight was burning the leaves.

So, I cut back on the leaves that were dying, and adjusted the position of the plant a bit. You can see space is very constrained.

That seemed to have worked. There are now new branches, and there was even a bloom a couple of nights ago.

The young bud. It takes about 2 weeks from bud to bloom.

This is early evening of the bloom. It will reach full bloom by about midnight.

The full bloom, at about midnight. It will wilt by dawn. A short lived flower. However, whilst in bloom, it is in its full glory - majestic and beautiful with a nice, strong fragrance. Unfortunately, all these happened in the evening, and not many people get to appreciate it.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ BLOGGER ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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