18 August 2026

My sister has a night-blooming cereus plant that produces beautiful flowers with a lovely scent. Each flower lasts only one night. The bud begins to open after sunset, it’s in full bloom around midnight and begins wilting right after that.

Night-blooming cereus is the common name for many night-blooming plants that behave like this. My sister’s plant appears to be an Epiphyllum sp, native to Central and South America.

Last night at 8:45pm the plant was in bud, pictured at top.

After the midnight thunderstorm passed, my sister went out at 1:10am to photograph it in full bloom.

This morning it is closed and wilting.

If we had the time and equipment to photograph it all night, here’s what it would have looked like.