Nightblooming Cereus
Peniocereus greggii
Photographed in the Gila Bend Mountains, Maricopa Co., Arizona on 17 Feb. 2008. This image is available at the Wikimedia Project.
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FLOWERS: Amazing, oversized white flowers with numerous petals open at
night to be pollinated by bats. Basis for another popular name for this cactus: Queen
of the Night.
SUCCULENT: A longitudinally ribbed, climbing cactus that usually snakes up through a shrub or
small tree gaining support and also protection from herbivores and intense sunshine. The under story
of a creosote bush is a common habitat and creosote wood and roots are among the
hardest in nature thus protecting the stems and underground storage. The
underground portion of this cactus exceeds the mass of the above ground portion.
ARMED. Short stiff spines at the areoles along the ribs. May be rubbed
off by repeated abbrasions of the nurse shrub.
RANGE: Found along the southern tier of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona and also
eastward into the Chihuahuan Desert. Widespread in Sonora, Mexico. Normally grows in deep soils.
FRUIT: Large (75 cm long),
bright red when ripe splitting open to reveal small black seeds. Dry
single-seeded capsule encircled by winged bracts.
LEAVES: None.
This picture is also hosted at Wikimedia Commons where there are many more images of cacti.