A flower at night - a timelapse of Cereus fernambucensis

Cereus fernambucensis (the "mandacaru-da-praia") is a species of cactus  exclusive to Brazil that occurs in coastal areas of Pará and Bahia to São Paulo; there are also collections in Minas Gerais. This species occurs in restingas and rocky areas.

The flower of this species is nocturnal (it opens at night) and pollination is done by moths.  Flowers are large (about 25 cm long), opening at night and closing in the morning. They open only once and then wither. 

The video was taken with a catch that lasted about 15 hours, from 7 p.m. to 10 a.m. the following morning. The plant is a Cereus cultivated in pot, but coming from Mongaguá, in the state of São Paulo shore, Brazil. Note the tepals opening (pink or white sterile elements) and the movement of the stigma and style (see image below to understand these terms). In the video you can see beetles, flies and hemiptera landing on the flower.

There are some cacti videos with nocturnal flowers on youtube (like Ephyphyllum - the queen of the night). But this is the first video of Cereus fernambucensis!

The music is a "Lundu" (a folk Brazilian style of music) collected by Martius and Spix in the XIX Century, in their famous expedition to Brazil (1827-1820) - an idea of our pos-graduate student Laura Affonso.

Credits: Vinícius Moreno Godoi (production and video editing), Milton Groppo & Cintia Erbert (plant providing and botanical information). Special thanks to Daniela Zappi for confirm plant identification and André Benedito for his help in formating the post.

(bibliography: Locatelli, E. & Machado, I. C. 1999. Floral biology of Cereus fernambucensis: a sphingophilous cactus of restinga. Bradleya 17: 86-94. Cactaceae in Flora do Brasil 2020 em construção. Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro. Disponível em: <http://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br/reflora/floradobrasil/FB70>. Acess in: 10 Oct 2017)

Our set - Ribeirão Preto - Brazil

Cereus fermanbucensis - flower (front view) 

Flower of Cereus fernambucensis, with some floral parts highlighted