It bloom again!

Night Blooms-beauty
It's called a Night Blooming Cereus and is rated as amongst the more exotic flowers to be found in human homes. It's a type of cactus and its main feature is that it produces a flower that opens only at night and lasts only for a few hours, always dying before dawn. Some people give parties to celebrate the event, usually bloom in 1st or 15th day of the Chinese calender, (don't know why)and no-one who has seen one can forget it because it looks like a blessing in the shape of a beautiful white-petalled flower. Between episodes of blooming it looks like a particularly gawky and awkward item, a delinquent hot-house resident that wants nothing more than to lurk in corners pretending that it knows nothing of blooms, pollen, stamens, petals ... until one day, quite suddenly and from the edge of one of the leaves, it puts forth a curling stem, about a finger in width. At the end of the stem there is a bud that looks almost normal, almost like a standard lotus bud, except that's a little bigger (about four inches from tip to where the stem begins), and a little hairier and it appears to have several tentacles, nude pink and white, clasped tight around it. There is something distinctly sinister about the thing, reminiscent of body-snatcher pods and other such unwelcome house guests. On the evening that the bud is due to open, the tentacles begin to stir and to stretch -- all the action takes place within the course of a couple of hours, so the movement is practically visible. As the tentacles loosen their grip, the flower grows in size, its inner petals unfurling like a ballerina's tutu until, by around 8.30 pm (it's a punctual plant) its Cinderella transformation is complete. The tentacles have now drawn back completely, and form a spiky aureole around the petaled crown. Inside the pristinely white circle of petals there is a star-shaped structure, rather like an albino spider doing a languorous cabaret, poised above an audience of stamens sitting in taut, tight formation, as if at the edges of their seats, their pale golden heads bulging with barely suppressed lust. I had seen photographs of the flower on-line (Google, of course! Just type in the name), but watching it in real life is a treat on par with seeing a one-time-only performance on stage.

This flower may or may not be called "Brahma Kamal" in India, but if so, it is a bit of a mystery how it came to have such a name. When the 1st time it bloom I was attracted by its un-describe-able perfume.According to folks, it is also named as Bunga Raja, or flower for the king. Keeping it is by default,I found it as a single leaf lying outside one of the emptied house in Maxwell area, while outing to take photo. WHen I brought it home, I even haven't decide where to plant it yet, and it just "temporary" sharing with my 7mile fragrance. ANd without relising it, grow and bloom.

The 1st time it bloom was last year and it was a year now, that it bloom again. I remember each time it bloom, it was like there was something happened and it appeared to be like as if trying to cheer me up...

Maybe I talk too often to it already. Oh ya, forgot to introduce, it is Broad-leafed Epiphyllum.

That remind me of one of a chinese say: planted a willow tree un-intentionally and yet it grow into huge shadow...

p/s:As I watch the Queen of the Night Flower blooms, a Cinderella Story comes to mind where the fairy godmother transformed her into a beautiful princess 'with a wave of her wand, she turned Cinderella's rags into an exquisite gown. On Cinderella's feet were tiny glass slippers. “Remember,” the fairy godmother said, "you must leave the ball at midnight. That's when the spell will be broken and all will be as it was before." And sure enough, the flower starts to close its petals after midnight.

ok its time to go to bed now. I have spent 4 hours watching "her"..