As a recent Master Gardener trainee, our very first class was on Introduction to Horticulture. It is here that I learned about Binominal Classification System, meaning two names and this nomenclature contains NO COMMON NAMES.  The names are made up of two main words, a Genus which is always capitalized, and a species which is always written in lowercase. There can sometimes be a third name added, if it is a particular cultivar, this is usually written in modern language with single quotes. An example of this is a tree in my garden. Originally, I was just calling it a Maple or Japanese Maple, but when I took a closer look at the tag, it is an Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood.' You may ask yourself why is this important? It's important because when we are talking in common names, we may actually be discussing very different plants.

Now you may be asking why I would be sharing such mundane information. And here goes my story.

I'm writing this on Mother's Day 2020 and thinking of a time five years ago when my Mom who lives in upstate New York gave me a crazy plant.  It was a sad little cutting off her Night Blooming Caerus…Queen of the Night…Queen of the Desert. She had hers for over a decade and it took almost that long to get it to bloom. I carefully flew it home with me, planted it in a pot, and read up on how to care for it. I love this plant. It's a piece of my Mom, it's like she's here with me in California. I think of her whenever I look at the plant. I hate this plant. If you take too good care of it, it dies or turns yellow. It wants neglect and it's quite a large, sprawling thing. And I was hoping one day for flowers. It took four years, but last summer, my efforts were rewarded with two rounds of incredible, enormous blooms. The fragrance was intoxicating, and even though each flower only opens for one night, the years of waiting were so worth it!

So back to the importance of names. I could clearly see after my first horticulture class that Night Blooming Caerus is a common name, and I wanted to know how to correctly address the most incredible and special plant in my house. I joined a Cactus and Succulent group on FB, posted a picture and asked for help identifying the plant. To my complete surprise, it is not a Caerus at all. It is an Epiphyllum oxypetalum. I was floored, the plant was not even related to any of the species Cereeae! What I learned through the name is that my plant is epiphytic, meaning it usually relies on other species for support. I purchased a small obelisk and started tying the plant up, greatly increasing the aesthetics of this gangly cactus. Now I'm looking forward to applying information from our class on propagation so I can share this plant with friends and hoping to see it bloom again this year.