Native Plants
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Ask Mr. Smarty Plants
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Tuesday - June 09, 2009
From: Bucyrus, OH
Region: Midwest
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Fragrant night blooming plant
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
My Grandmother use to have a night fragrant night blooming plant that she referred to as "baby Jesus being born" when it bloomed. Are you familiar with anything of this nature?ANSWER:
Mr. Smarty Plants didn't find a plant with the exact name your grandmother used but here is one possibility—Epiphyllum oxypetalum (Night blooming cereus, Dutchman's pipe cactus, Queen of the Night). A couple of people commenting on this plant referred to it as "Babe in the Manger." I found other references to that name associated with Epiphyllum oxypetalum on several plant forums as well. You can search on the linked page given above for "Babe in the Manger" or scroll down to the entries by NEVADASKIDS or lindas43. The first entry says her mother called it that because the bloom looks like "Baby Jesus in the Manger with the star at his feet." Epiphylllum oxypetalum is a member of the Family Cactaceae (Cactus Family) and is a native of Mexico and Central America. It does bloom at night and is fragrant. Here are more photos. Mr. Smarty Plants thinks you need to have a pretty good imagination to see the baby Jesus in the center of the flower.
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