While cereus cactii varieties bear their flowers in the night, most varieties of barrel cactii produce flowers that open to the sun’s rays and close before sundown. They often open for several days in a row before withering.
The Devil’s Tongue Barrel or Crow’s Claw Cactus has pinkish purple or yellow flowers, 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter (2.5 to 3.5 cm). Ferocactus latispinus, as this variety is known, is fairly popular in cultivation because it blooms very early, many young plants will bloom when they reach 4 inches in diameter (10 cm). The cactus that produced this flower is about the size of a basketball, 10 inches in diameter (25 cm).
