Queen of the night
© Egon Krogsgaard
© Egon Krogsgaard
Queen of the night gets its name from its nocturnal flowering habit. The flowers open after sunset and wither again before dawn. Each flower therefore lives for only a single night.
The flowers are large and trumpet-shaped. They are white on the inside and orange-brown on the outside, and they release a strong, sweet fragrance that fills the greenhouse during the late evening hours. The scent and the pale colour of the flowers help the plant attract nocturnal pollinators, including bats and moths.
As the large flowers unfold during the evening, their development can almost be observed from hour to hour, until they reach their full size around midnight.
Watch the time-lapse video of the Queen of the Night flowering in the Greenhouses. The video was recorded between sunset and sunrise and shows the entire blooming process, from the first petals opening to the flower wilting again at daybreak.
Fact box:
- Greenhouse location: Desert House
- Danish name: Nattens dronning
- Latin name: Selenicereus grandiflorus
- Family: Cactus family / Cactaceae
- Natural habitat: Mexico and the Caribbean