This was the evening that my Arizona Queen of the Night (Peniocereus greggii) opened its first flower – Sunday, June 24, 2018.  I got this plant as a salvage rescue from the Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society a couple of months ago. The large tuberous root weighs about 8-10 lbs (4 kg) and the spidery gray stems stand about 3 feet tall. I placed it into a tall blue ceramic glazed pot which I’ll share below, and it set three buds a bit over a month ago. One of those has dropped off, leaving two, with this flower being the first to open. So what better to do than to have a nocturnal portrait session out in the cactus garden with the nearly full moon to illuminate the scene? The fragrance is wonderful. It’s in the house now sitting next to me as I write so that I can enjoy it. The constellation of Scorpio is partially visible to the left side of the screen. Ahhh, the beauty of desert summer nights.

Queen of the Night in bloom with my house and garden under the light of a nearly full moon. I believe that the bright planet in the middle of the sky is Jupiter.

Close up of the Peniocereus greggii flower with the moon in the background. These large, fragrant flowers are adapted specifically for sphinx moth (aka hawk moth, hummingbird moth, family Sphingidae) pollination. The moths have good night vision and are receptive to fragrances wafting on the desert breezes, and thus make suitable pollination vectors for these widely-spaced and generally uncommon cacti that only bloom one or two nights a year. When you are reliant upon a nocturnal insect to reproduce, it helps your survival to attract a strong flier with a large body capable of covering significant distances at night, and that is why sphinx moths have emerged as the insect of choice for these cacti. One more example of the miracles of evolution over eons.

Update: My Arizona Queen of the Night (Peniocereus greggii) flowered its second bud last night, Monday July 2. That will be it for the year, no more flowers for 2018. Earlier photos I posted did not show the thick, tuberous root or the tall ceramic glazed pot that I put it into, so I wanted to use the second flowering opportunity to show how the entire plant appears. The blue pot is about 16 inches (40 cm) tall and the large tuber is about 8 inches (20 cm) in diameter.

As noted above, this is a salvage plant from development near Tucson that I picked up in April at the Sonoran Conference via the Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society Rescue Program. The tuber must weigh about 8 to 10 lbs (4 kilos) and is shaped like a large sugar beet or turnip, with broad shoulders at the top tapering to a pointed slender tip. Normally Peniocereus greggi roots are entirely hidden, with only the grayish-green twiggy branches visible above the soil, but the root is such an unusual and attractive feature that many people purposely elevate it halfway to show it off.

Queen of the Night is not a very common plant despite the fairly large distribution range from south-central Arizona to western Texas and northern Mexico, and it is even harder to find than most other cacti since the stems usually grow underneath creosote bushes, mesquites, or palo verde trees. The cactus’ stems closely resemble the dead branches of those woody plants, which is purposely done because the starchy roots contain water and are quite edible, so the plants must hide lest they be eaten. Humans have used Peniocereus roots as a food source but this kills the plants, and given their sparse abundance, I would just recommend eating a potato instead.

This photo was a 60 second long time exposure with the outdoors lighting being primarily provided by the moon itself, not a camera flash or handheld LED headlamp, which I commonly use to illuminate foreground plants including those in other photos above. The air was dead calm, allowing for clear exposures since there was no wind to move and blur things. (Not that most cacti and succulents are all that movable in breezes anyway, but the tall, slender Peniocereus could definitely move around in even a slight breeze, making a clear photo nearly impossible with a 60 second exposure….)

The fading light of dusk gently illuminates the cactus garden with the Peniocereus, the moon, and my metal saguaro sculpture purchased in 2016.