Queen of the Night now in bloom at Universal CityWalk
An unusual plant nicknamed Queen of the Night, is now blooming at Universal CityWalk. The blossoms are quite large, green tip to green tip is about 9 inches. The Queen of the Night is a climbing succulent that blooms only in a dark location, only at night. It’s exciting to be able to share these photos, because the flowers are not often seen, especially at this location.
In this view you can see how the Queen of the Night is climbing the trunk of the palm tree. Queen of the Night’s latin name is Selenicereus grandiflorus.
In this view you can see a new flower forming to the right. This photo was take at about 5 a.m.
Same view about 12 hours later. Each flower opens for only one night. Last night’s flower is beginning to drop, while the new bud is ready to bloom tonight.
We spotted the Queen with drooping flower heads a few days ago, and have been visiting her each night since.
This view looks very alien, very pre-historic.
At left is a view from January 2010, at right is now, June 2012.
You can see that the succulent is favoring the dark side of the palm tree trunk, away from lighting in the nearby bus loop.
The location is too dark to take photos at night in ambient light. And a camera flash is too bright.
So a battery-operated photographer’s fill light was used for the night photos in this article.
We don’t know how long the Queen of the Night will continue to bloom. Be sure to look for her if you go to Universal Studios’ Summer Concert Series or CityWalk at night in the next few weeks.
