''Selenicereus grandiflorus'' is a

cactus A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

originating from the

Antilles The Antilles (; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Antiy; es, Antillas; french: Antilles; nl, Antillen; ht, Antiy; pap, Antias; Jamaican Patois: ''Antiliiz'') is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mex ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

. The species is commonly referred to as queen of the night,

night-blooming cereus Night-blooming cereus is the common name referring to a large number of flowering ceroid cacti that bloom at night. The flowers are short lived, and some of these species, such as ''Selenicereus grandiflorus'', bloom only once a year, for a s ...

(though these two terms are also used for other species), large-flowered cactus, sweet-scented cactus or vanilla cactus. The true species is extremely rare in cultivation. Most of the plants under this name belong to other species or hybrids. It is often confused with the genus '' Epiphyllum''.

Etymology

is Latin for 'large flowered'. When Carl von Linné described this cacti in 1753 it was the largest flowered species of

cacti A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek ...

known. Paradoxically, its flowers are moderate in size compared with several other ''Selenicereus'' species.

History

The first species to be brought into cultivation. Linné (Linnaeus) described it in 1753, but it was known long before. Records from

Hortus Kewensis ''Hortus Kewensis, or a Catalogue of the Plants Cultivated in the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew'' by William Aiton was a 1789 catalogue of all the plant species then in cultivation at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is ...

gives that the species was grown at Royal Gardens at Hampton Court before 1700. There has been doubt about which plant was available to Linné when he drew up his description, but this is solved and both the plates on this side show the authentic species.

Origin and habitat

It is native throughout the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti), Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, and a few other locations in South and Central America. Climbing on trees and on rocks at 700 metre altitude. Extremely variable, especially in Jamaica, stems with slightly wavy to strongly knobby margins occurs in the same plant. Much confused in cultivation. Many species of '' Selenicereus'' should be reduced to synonyms of

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of this species, differing merely in degree rather than in kind.

Cultivation

An easily cultivated, fast growing

epiphyte An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phoroph ...

lithophytic Lithophytes are plants that grow in or on rocks. They can be classified as either epilithic (or epipetric) or endolithic; epilithic lithophytes grow on the surfaces of rocks, while endolithic lithophytes grow in the crevices of rocks (and are als ...

plant. Needs a compost containing plenty of humus and sufficient moisture in summer. Should not be kept under 5 °C (41 °F) in winter. Perform best if grown in full sun. Extra light in the early spring will stimulate budding. Flowers in late spring or early summer, only blooms one night a year for several years and withers within hours.

Description

Stems scandent, clambering or sprawling, branching, sometimes forming tangles, producing aerial roots, stiff, to 10 m long or more, (10)15–25(–30)mm thick; ribs (4–)7–8(–10), low, less so on older branches, separated by broad, rounded intervals, slightly wavy to strongly knobby; areoles small, wool white or greyish white, internodes (6–)12–20 mm; spines 5–18, to 4.5–12 mm, basally ca 0,25 mm in diameter, acicular, elliptic or circular in cross section, bulbous basally, spreading, yellowish brown to brownish or yellow, grey in age, eventually deciduous hairs from lower part of areole ± numerous white or brownish, mature vegetative areoles usually lacking hairs,

juvenile Juvenile may refer to: *Juvenile status, or minor (law), prior to adulthood *Juvenile (organism) *Juvenile (rapper) (born 1975), American rapper * ''Juvenile'' (2000 film), Japanese film * ''Juvenile'' (2017 film) *Juvenile (greyhounds), a greyho ...

plants have spines shorter and fewer; epidermis glaucous green or bluish green, often ± purplish, smooth.

Flowers A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

17–22.5 cm long and reportedly as much as 15 inches (38 cm) in width. Fragrance reminding of vanilla and orange-flower; pericarpel 25 mm long, with bracteoles 5 mm, strap-shaped and yellowish, covered with nearly white or tawny hairs and sharp bristles; receptacle 7.5–8.7 cm, bracteoles 5–14mm, strap-shaped to linear, yellowish with long, nearly white or tawny, wavy hairs and sharp bristles in their axils, ca 25mm long; outer tepals 7.5–10 cm long, averaging 4.5 mm wide, linear-attenuate, light brown, salmon to pink buff, yellowish adaxially; inner tepals 7.5–10 cm long, 9–12(–15) mm, shorter than outer tepals, wide, lanceolate, gradually narrowed into a pointed or acute apex, white; stamens 38–50 mm long, delinate, white, anthers 1.5mm long, yellowish; style 15–20 cm long, often longer than inner tepals, 1.5 mm greatest diameter, stigma lobes 7–12, ca 7.5 mm long, slender. Fruit ovoid, 5–9 cm long, 4.5–7 cm thick, whitish, partly pink, pink, yellow or orange, covered with clusters of spines and hairs which soon drop off, juicy, the imbilicus small and inconspicuous. Four subspecies are recognized: **ssp. ''donkelaarii'' (Salm-Dyck) Ralf Bauer **ssp. ''grandiflorus'' **ssp. ''hondurensis'' (K.Schum. ex Weing.) Ralf Bauer **ssp. ''lautneri'' Ralf Bauer

Hybrids

''Selenicereus ×callianthus'' (Gaillard) Lindinger (1942). This is a

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

between this

and '' Selenicereus pteranthus''. Many plants under the name ''Selenicereus grandiflorus'' may belong to this cross. It is very similar to '' Selenicereus pteranthus'', but stems more slender and spines, longer and yellowish.

References

External links

* *
Night-blooming cereus. Cereus grandiflorus (L)
Picture
Selenicereus grandiflorus
Pictures and time lapse movie of opening flower

{{Taxonbar, from=Q137139 grandiflorus Flora of Central America Flora of the Caribbean Flora of Mexico Flora of Peru Flora of Florida Articles containing video clips Epiphytes Night-blooming plants Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Garden plants of Central America