Epiphyllum Crenatum, Pride of the Mexico Cooks! Home Garden, Spring 2010

Meet our epiphyllum crenatum, the crenate orchid cactus native to Mexico.  Crenate refers to the scalloped shape of the cactus's long, thick leaves.  The open flower measures approximately seven to eight inches in diameter. 

Sometime during the very early spring of 2009, Mexico Cooks! and several friends took a Sunday drive to Pátzcuaro and beyond.  On the return trip, we passed through Tzintzuntzan.  As we drove slowly past the market square in town, I suddenly screeched the car to the curb–a display of plants, for sale on the corner, had grabbed my attention.  Among her other plants, the vendor's big epiphyllum cactus, potted in a La Morena chile can, made my heart go pitter-patter.  Eighty pesos later, we loaded the big cactus into the back of the car and headed home to Morelia.

This tiny can of La Morena chiles chilpotles* adobados is a wee cousin of the six pound chile can that originally held the epiphyllum.  La Morena produces canned chiles jalapeños en escabeche (pickled) as well as chiles chilpotles* in adobo.  The canned chiles are excellent, the best we've tried.

*Chilpotle is a variant spelling of chipotle.

This group of buds is still relatively closed, although the bud on the right is beginning to show signs of opening.  The cactus, growing in a pot on Mexico Cooks!' sunny terrace, has more than 30 buds.

This species was shown at an exhibition at the London Horticultural Society's
Garden in 1844 and won highest medal for a new introduction. It had been
collected in Honduras 5 years earlier by Georges Ule Skinner, who sent the plant
to Sir Charles Lemon.  Sir Charles brought the epiphyllum to flower for the first time in 1843.

Barely opened on Saturday evening, this bud opened fully by Sunday morning.  Temperatures in Morelia have ranged between 50°and 85° Fahrenheit during this week (April 10-17, 2010).

The thick, fleshy leaves of this cactus can grow as much as two feet high.  The leaf skin is smooth and green and the leaves have definite scallops, visible in the photographs.

The fully-opened flower lasts approximately 36 hours before the petals close and the flower droops.  Mexico Cooks! expects that the season for this year's buds and flowers will be finished in about two weeks.

Epiphyllum crenatum is easy to cultivate and highly rewarding.  After a few months in its new pot, our cactus began to grow new leaves.  Late in the winter, we were thrilled to see that buds were beginning to form.  According to horticulturalists, the plant will need to be re-potted after it flowers in 2011.

Close-up of the petals, pistils, and stamens.  Epiphyllum crenatum belongs to the plant division Magnoliophyta, which has this type reproductive organs.

Epiphyllum crenatum in her pot on the terrace.  Our employees water the epiphyllum three or four times a week during
the dry season.  During the rainy season (mid-May through early
November), Mother Nature keeps the pot plentifully watered.

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