Into a Cactus Flower

Last night, we had five new cactus flowers bloom. Although, due to unfortunate circumstances, no timelapse footage was available, Cactus Cam Productions was on the scene just as the flowers opened. Come with me on a journey....into the cactus flower!

This post contains detailed close-up photos of cactus reproductive organs and may not be suitable for small weeds and other plants that have yet to flower.

To re-cap, we've had 16 flowers so far this year, in groups of 1, 1, 5, 4, and now 5. I count at least a half dozen more buds. In 2008, we'll have to have some sort of cactus flower betting pool.

Anyway, on to the stunning images...

I'm starting with my favorite shot this time. I almost never use manual focus on my camera, but I had to for these close-ups. I love the depth of field and how clearly you can see the opening.

Check out the fuzz on the neighboring stalk.

A little closer...

I could see all the way down the flower's hollow stalk.

This is thirty minutes later.

The flash doesn't do much for viewing, but it adds a neat effect, like you're looking at an explosion.

And then an hour later, they were almost fully open.

And now....the feature presentation.

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I got the music from this CD of various artists released under the Creative Commons license.