The Desert Night-Blooming Cereus is a very slender, inconspicuous cactus that looks like a  grayish-green stick, up to 1" thick and several feet long.  Old plants have several branches.  Since it grows under creosote, mesquite, palo verde, ironwood, and other desert trees that it needs for shelter and support, it is practically invisible for most of the year...except on the one night that the spectacular flowers bloom, or when the plum-sized red fruits ripen.  Huge 2-6 inch flowers open at sunset and are pollinated by the White-lined Sphinx Moth, Celerio lineata.
Photographing the Queen of the Night is a challenge.  Photos in the composite image were taken with a Nikon D90 using a hand-held remote flash and a gold foil reflector.  The other photos were taken with a Nikon Coolpix E990 using only the camera's built-in flash and a flashlight.