Selenicereus Species, Night-Blooming Cereus, Princess of the Night, Snake Cactus

This plant has been growing on an old avocado tree in East Bradenton for about thirty years. Tonight my friend called me over to photogr...Read Moreaph the blooms he would describe to me year after year, as we looked at the withered remnants in the morning.

These flowers are so beautiful they are almost intimidating! 'Princess of the Night' is a good name ... but really they give a completely magical aura.

Talk about easy to grow! My friend does .... exactly nothing. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

The plant is very easy to grow. We grew ours from several cuttings from a "wild" one in Melbourne, FL. I just stuck the cuttings in the ...Read Moreground. If left out of control, they can take over. However, if you manage it, it produce lots of beautiful evening flowers. This species has a slight musty odor to the flowers, no real scent. They like to climb. They prefer scrub palms. They are in partial shade. We have an irrigation system that provides them with 90 minutes of water, twice a week. The soil is sandy. We are in Titusvile, FL. Our microclimate is ~Hardiness Zone 10. We have two selenicereus, this pteranthus; and a beautiful anthonyanus.

This cactus is a viney and spiny perennial, night-blooming cactus that is native to Mexico and was introduced to Florida in the U.S. by s...Read Moreettlers during the Seminole War. It has since naturalized as a weedy, vining cactus in several counties in central and southern Florida from zone 9a southward through zone 11 and the Keys, including Brevard, Seminole, St. Lucie, Palm Beach, Lee, and Collier counties in east and southwest Florida and the Keys. It has white-petaled flowers with green sepals that open at night on long stalks with white hairs, scales and long reddish-brown spines at the base of the pointed flower stalk. This cactus often forms shrubby or viney snakelike masses of spiny stems creeping over eachother and objects in a serpentlike, weedy tangle or mass. It has escaped in many counties in central and southern Florida and the Keys in the U.S. and is also found and occuring or reproducing in the wild in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The flowers are white with green sepals on long stalks that open at night.

MORE FACTS - Weedy in the landscape. Thrives in full sun or partial shade; may do well in light shade. Called "Snake Cactus" because stems form shrubby or viney, serpentlike tangles, creeping over and wrapping around eachother and climbing over objects and fences. Night-blooming; flowers open at night. Naturalized in central and southern Florida and the Virgin Islands in the U.S.; native to Mexico. Introduced to Florida probably during the Seminole War by settlers; has escaped cultivation and is weedy and established in the Keys and several counties in the central and southern portions of the state (zone 9a southward through 11) ever since. Also introduced to the Virgin Islands, where it is also naturalized. This is a viney to climbing or shrubby, snakelike cactus. Found in and naturalized in coastal strand, sunnny open sites, pinelands, hammocks, and disturbed or ruderal sites such as vacant lots and along fencerows as well as disturbed coastal sites. It flowers year-round in Florida where it is naturalized. It has short spines and ribbed stems. The flower tubes are somewhat similar to that of S. grandiflorus. Invasive and weedy in disturbed and natural areas.