A flower or four...

Last year, a friend gave me a cactus for my birthday. He called by when no-one was home, so left it next to the front verandah, and there it has remained. This is not because I don’t like it, but because I'm just not sure where to position a pot containing such a spiky character.

 

It would seem however, the cactus is very happy where it is, as since May, it has flowered three times.

I originally thought it was a San Pedro cactus, a native from Peru, from which mescaline is derived. 

However, the flowers of the San Pedro cacti are white, and these are pink, so I now think it is a variety of Echinopsis. Aren't they beautiful?

    

The blooms only last a day or two but remain open at night. Many species of cactus are pollinated by both daylight pollinators; bees, birds and butterflies, and night pollinators such as bats and moths. Flowering takes a lot of energy, so I guess if your a desert plant, you need to make it count.

As well as putting a whole lot of energy into the flowering, the cactus is sending roots out through the bottom of it's terracotta pot, and has developed a pronounced lean. Time to find it a new and larger home, oh, and buy some new, extra thick gloves.

If only it would stop flowering...