On October 1 and 2, Bucky the cactus bloomed again. Not only did it (he?) produce a second round of flowers, it had four at once. It must have been a great summer for cacti here on my terrace. Bucky had the good timing to bloom not only on a perfect sunny early fall day, but on a day when I was not at work and could observe and document the whole process. I find the speed of this blooming amazing. The buds emerge, open, and close within 24 hours. Night-blooming cacti are pollinated by moths, night-birds, and even bats. It's a very specialized ecological strategy.

I have tried to find out the species of this cactus and am getting close to a clear identification. I believe that it is a member of the Echinopsis family, since my cactus books tell me that this type of cactus blooms at night while other similar ones bloom by day. There is a surprisingly large amount of cactus material available on the all-knowing Web. I found sites maintained by people who are wildly devoted to their spiny friends, such as this one. There is an "Identify Your Cactus" forum where experts will be able to tell me just what kind of cactus Bucky is.

So here is the photo-sequence I have put together (my apologies to those who have slower connections) so that you can see Bucky's latest flower moment.

Posted at 11:46 pm | link