Fragrant Earth

Whiffs and kitsch. A good olfactory blog.


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I promise I didn’t time this on purpose!

.Dragonfruit cactus
Hylocereus undatus.

I promise I did not time this on purpose, but last night, my Dragonfruit cactus bloomed! Dragonfruits are native to Mexico and Central America in dry monsoonal forests. I happened to have one in my collection of plants that bloomed last night- again I promise I did not time this on purpose!

They are not as fragrant as the other flowering cacti in the genus, but have a similar, albeit faint mustiness characteristic of night-blooming cacti. The picture below is for reference to the size of the flower. As you can see, it is as large as my head! Hopefully soon, this bat-pollinated flower will produce a dragonfruit- an exotic fruit with a flavor between watermelon and kiwi!

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