Echinopsis cactus flowers explode in a riot of colors in this beautiful timelapse work by YouTuber EchinopsisFreak. In the example above, blooms somehow synchronize their brief appearance to maximize the chance of pollination.
Do flowers conspire? It would seem so. I've noticed that when a large number of cacti bloom on the same evening, the word somehow gets out and some plants will bloom prematurely to get in on the big evening. I had a mass bloom night a few weeks back and decided to film a 'Madame Pele' plant with 8 buds even though the buds were immature and should have grown another day or two before opening. My suspicion that the flowers would bloom prematurely turned out to be correct and this timelapse shows the results. Not only are the flowers about 1" smaller in diameter than normal, you will see that some of the flowers virtually explode open vs. opening normally. The immature petals on these buds are stuck together and it is only when sufficient torque is applied by the opening sepals that the petals pop open. The "pop" takes only 1 minute in real time. I hope you find this special timelapse interesting. Best wishes!
Here's a montage of some of the best blooms on the channel!
• Freaky Flower Opening Due to Mass Bloom (YouTube / EchinopsisFreak)
