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Trevp666

Beloved of Ra
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Flitwick, Bedfordshire, 1874
A live webcam has been set up to capture a rare Amazonian cactus which is expected to bloom "imminently".
The moonflower, or Strophocactus wittii, is part of the collection at Cambridge University Botanic Garden.
The plant is "very rare" in captivity and when it bloomed in February 2021, it was believed to be the first time one had ever flowered in the United Kingdom.
The flower usually comes out overnight and only lasts for 12 hours.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-64937527
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Interesting that Cambridge Botanical garden are calling it Strophocactus as I thought that name had been rejected in favour of Selenicereus

That prompted me to look it up. It was moved back to Selenicereus in 1986 accepted Scientific Name: Selenicereus wittii (Schum.) G.D.Rowley
Excelsa 12: 36 (1986)

There was a suggestion in 2003, by Ralf Bauer that Strophocactus was valid. A new molecular phylogenetic study in 2017 confirmed this and it was accepted by Plants of the World Online a database set up by Kew in 2021.

Growing cacti was much simpler when I started with a few plants on a windowsill fifty odd years ago!

Most "jungle cacti" have good flowers but out of flower aren't that attractive. One author described people who grow them as "lovingly showing (him) what looked like armfuls of seaweed". To be fair something that looks like a green ribbon and has to be twelve foot long before it flowers probably isn't going to be a big seller at the local garden centre!

Nice flower though and I'll be checking the webcam. Thanks @Trevp666
 
When I was a kid I saw a cactus that only bloomed once a hundred years in Oxford botanical gardens. Thanks for reminding me of that.
A lot of flowers are called 'moonflowers'. One I see a lot of is the dragonfruit flower, which is very common in the warmer parts of the world (originally from Mexico but is found all over southern Asia), which similarly only lasts for one night and can be made into soup. Dragonfruit is also a cactus btw.

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