Other than being a highly rare and unusual event to witness, I also love the story about how this elusive flower came to our attention. We expect it to flower like this most years from now on. I attached it to our Water Chestnut tree ( Pachira aquatica) in our Tropical House and it’s since grown around the tree and now one of the stems has decided to send out a flower bud. I’m so intrigued and excited to experience it flower! We acquired a small pad from Bonn Botanic Garden in 2015. Once it has flowered and hopefully successfully pollinated, it then dies a few hours later, emitting a rancid smell. This is believed to be only one or two species of hawkmoth. Two hours after it has fully opened, its scent changes to a more rancid smell, before closing up for good at sunrise.įind out more in our Moonflower Factfile.Īlex continues: “The flower has its nectary right at the base of the floral tube which means it can only be pollinated by an insect with a long tongue or proboscis. When it eventually flowers, the process begins by the breaking bud emitting a sweet smelling fragrance (allegedly with the same floral notes as those used in one of the popstar Rihanna’s perfumes according to nature writer and broadcaster Richard Mabey!) just as it begins to open and throughout its flowering, to attract the night flying hawkmoth. These waterways are important to the dispersal of this cactus as the seeds float, and this allows them to be carried away from the parent plant to find another tree crevice to lodge and grow in. In the Amazon rainforest, they do this to maintain a position above the seasonal inundation of flood waters from the Amazon and its tributaries. They are flattened, smooth and leaf-like and create an intricate swirling pattern as they wind their way around their host tree trunk. The stems of this particular cactus do not resemble any ordinary cactus. The Moonflower is an epiphyte, which means it relies on another plant as an anchor point. I noticed the flattened stems, or pads, which swirl around the trunk of our Water Chestnut had sent out a flowerbud in late November – which was a lucky spot as it’s almost 12 feet up in the air and could have so easily been missed! But it has only recently increased radically in size which means a flowering is imminent.” It’s very rare to have this plant in our collection and we believe this is the first time the Moonflower has flowered in the UK. “I’m so excited to see and share this most unusual flowering. Two hours after flowering begins, it changes its scent to something far less attractive and then the flowering is over by sunrise.Īlex Summers, Former CUBG Glasshouse Supervisor, is responsible for growing and nurturing this rare and unusual cactus in the Tropical House at the Botanic Garden. Its white, nocturnal flowers, reach to be 27cm in length and emit a beautiful sweet-smelling fragrance as they blossom at sunset to attract their pollinators – two species of hawkmoth with extremely long proboscises (tongues). It is found exclusively above the high waterline of the floodplain rainforests of the Amazon Basin. Cambridge Botanic Lights – Ticket Giveaway.Cambridge Botanic Lights – Frequently Asked Questions.Corporate Support and Corporate Friends.
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