Wildlife Report National Sillygraphic Society No. 3, 30-8-2014

About two Princesses and the Donkey’s tail

Dear readers,

On July 31th something special happened in the Sun Room of Villa Dark Horse: the Queen of the Night gave birth to two Princesses!

The Queen of the Night, or Night-blooming Cereus (Selenicereus grandiflorus) is a climbing cactus species originating from Mexico, Cuba, Jamaica and Haiti. Her Princesses are large flowers which open after dusk and are short-lived: they only bloom for a few hours.

It was the second time the Queen produced offspring. In September/October 2013 two reddish buds appeared, which grew in about two weeks into c. 30 cms long flower stems. Of the two Princesses only one reached maturity, on the 6th of October.

But this year both buds developed in several weeks into flowers as big as a hand, which opened in a few hours in the evening of the 31th of July. A spectacular event which we documented scrupulously.

19.00 h: Both Princesses are still reddish. The thin sepals which are curved around the bud start to unfold.

21.00 h: The buds slowly start to open... the petals are bright white.

22.00 h: The buds are almost completely open and have a diameter of c. 30 cms

23.00 h-1.30 h: The buds are completely open; the thin sepals are bent sideways and backward. The star-like pistil and the large bundle of stamens have moved forward.

The Princesses show themselves at their best and spread a heavy perfume-like fragrance, meant to attract insects for their pollination. But although we kept the window slightly open that night and despite the fact that I pollinated both flowers with a paintbrush, the Princesses where not fertilized.

After this enormous outburst of energy followed a very rapid decline. The next morning, August 1st, at 6 AM the Princesses had almost completely lost their tension and at 15.30 PM they were withered.

But the biggest surprise came a week later, when I inspected the Queen of the Night again: the withered Princesses had transformed into tails of a Donkey! A sensational discovery since no one before ever made a connection between both species. But how does the Donkey’s tail reach the Donkey’s behind?

The only probable answer to this question is, to my humble opinion, ‘Pin the tail on the Donkey’. This trivial children’s game turns out to be of great importance. It seems that, after the Donkey’s tails drop off the Queen of the Night they are gathered by children who attach them to the Donkey’s behind with a pushpin.

This also explains why Donkeys are born without a tail, which was a mystery to many biologists. And it answered the question why the Queen of the Night has spread over every continent. Flies are everywhere, aren’t they? So it would be unfair if only the Donkeys in Mexico and the Caribbean could be able to chase them off with a tail.

So the Princesses of the Night contribute to a better world... A consoling thought when we are looking with melancholy at the wilted flowers... Fortunately a new little Princess announced herself and a new Donkey’s tail is in the making.

Yours sincerely,

Ms. M.

Correspondent of the
National Sillygraphics Society

Clerk Second Class
Ministry of Silly E-mails
Department of Foreign Affairs
Subdepartment of the Territtories Outside the Dikes
The Hague

MsM@villahetzwartepaard.nl