With a name stemming from echinos, meaning prickly or spiny like a hedgehog or sea urchin, echinopsis cacti are 128 species of South American native plants that are known for their bold and brilliant blooms. Greg Krehel at Echinopsis Freak explains a bit about the impressive plants he collects and filmed for the video above, Freaky Flowers: Echinopsis Cacti in Bloom.
“Echinopsis cactus flowers bloom overnight and the flowers last for only a day. Actually, the flowers are at their peak beauty for an hour or two at the most. That’s what turned me from a cactus enthusiast into a cactus photographer … the desire to try to preserve some aspect of their freaky beauty…
“The cacti shown in this video come from my collection. The evening when it looks like a plant’s flowers are about to bloom, I bring it indoors to image. Most of the clips in this montage show approximately 8 hours of change as the flowers open and bloom…”
Other clips show growing, blooming, and wilting over a 24 hour period. Watch more of his time lapse videos here.
• Seed germination to growth time lapses by Neil Bromhall
• Flowers opening: a time lapse from thousands of photos
• Wild Plants of Japan: Strange and lovely stop motion videos
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