Moonflower

 Last year Tom was given seeds for the moonflower. This is another night-bloomer. Last weekend we saw that the first flower was about to open. I checked the next morning and this is what I found:

 The pure white flower is enormous and shaped like a trumpet (a common name for this plant is Devil's Trumpet). The plant itself is also quite striking with its soft green-blue leaves. But it is also deadly if ingested (particularly the seeds). Datura (the genus) causes respiratory depression, heart irregularities, hallucinations, psychosis and even death according to Wiki. It is perhaps not a good plant to have with children or pets.

It is called America's most toxic home-grown narcotic. It's also listed as "one of the top ten plants that can kill you".

 Here's a wider view of the flower in context with the size of the plant.

 The flowers open after the sun sets and stay open well into the next day. It's said that the sun must touch them before they wilt and I found this one stayed open until about 1:30 pm. That was just as the sun rounded the garage and began shining on the plant.

 The flower opens like the turning of a screw. It untwists. A YouTube video shows this action in real-time. Click here

 Back up one step and you'll see that the bud looks something like okra ...

More information can be found here.

I'll post a picture of the mature seed pod if one develops before our first frost (just about five weeks away).