Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Night-Blooming Cereus
If Dr. Seuss ever wrestled with existential dread – and I have no reason to think he did – he might have come up with the night blooming cereus.
Some of its long, scalloped leaves grow from stems, sure, but some of them just start up in the middle of other leaves, like an arm growing out of a back. Roots grow from leaf surfaces, sometimes upwards.
It’s a cactus, which I suppose should excuse some odd behavior. On its own in the desert it will dry up and look like so many dead sticks until it gets some water. In our house, it’s green and creepy all year round.
Once a year, or once a decade, or once in some long period of time, it produces – at night, hence the name – one spectacular flower, which lasts for a day. Turning this into metaphor is left as an exercise for the student.
