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Lady at night, queen of the night or Kadapul flower, are the names with which it is commonly known, this feminine and sensual flower, which today I share with you and surely will make you dream for its complex beauty. These large and ephemeral white flowers provided with a large number of petals, resemble a star that emerges only at night, flooding the spaces where it lives with its exquisite fragrance, having a short duration, one or two nights.

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This epiphyte plant belonging to the cactus family is also known as the Dutch Pipe, due to the way in which its buds develop, generating a curve that is born in the stem. In natural habitat, tropical moist forests, grow between the branches of trees, lean on them just to avoid falling, as they do not have a parasitic behavior. It is very peculiar because unlike the cacti that we commonly know, this one is devoid of leaves and thorns and its stems have the shape of palettes that at first glance resemble leaves, with irregular edges, of a very soft texture and slightly adherent to the touch. Its scientific name is Epiphyllum oxypetalum, and it is widely used as an ornamental plant, for the ease of cultivating it.

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Although it is assumed that this plant is native to countries such as Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay and Venezuela. Japan, is another country where this flower has a history known as Gekka Bijin that translates as "Beauty under the Moon". Even in Sri Lanka it is called "Kadupul" whose meaning is the flower of heaven.

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Also, some ancient legends link this beautiful flower with India and Vietnam. In the case of India, it is known as Brahma Kamalam, in honor of the Hindu god of creation, Lord Brahma. And according to a legend explains the desires of people who pray to God while the flower is blooming will be fulfilled.

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For their part, the Vietnamese possess a beautiful and sad story, which tells that a very beautiful daughter of a monarch, fell in love with a handsome young man, who because of his plebeian status was the unworthy of the princess' love. When the illustrious father of the young woman found out, he urged her to forget this impossible love, since he was not the man he had chosen for her. However, she disobeyed her father, secretly continuing to frequent her young lover.

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But, shortly after, the father learned of the furtive encounters, between the princess and her lover and full of anger, as punishment exile to his own daughter on an island, until the day of their wedding. The princess, invaded by the sadness caused by the loss of her true love, gave herself to the immense pain and died of grief.

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The father, upon hearing such sad news, wept inconsolably and tells the legend that one night while he was crying bitterly, his tears fell to the rough ground of his domain, and in that wild land, the beautiful flower "Da Quynh", or queen of the night. It is said that the spirit of the princess transformed into flower, visited his father, only twice a year, displaying its beauty and a powerful and delicious perfume only at night, denying his presence again at dawn. This as a perennial reminder of impossible love, and of the pain produced by the intransigence of a father.

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References

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphyllum_oxypetalum
http://hablemosdeflores.com/epiphyllum-oxypetalum-flor-kadupul/

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The photographs were taken with my Pentax * ist DL camera, with a Pentax 18-55 lens and natural lighting.

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