In the Park's Permanent Collection

From time to time Tohono Chul Park will showcase pieces from the Park's Permanent Collection. The Collection houses more than 250 mostly Native American fine crafts, including pottery, baskets, weavings and carvings.

Queen of the Night artist: Kathleen Schroeder
Media: beaded scuplture
Accession: 2001.1.1

           This night blooming cactus has angular and twiggy stems of about ½” in diameter. On these stems grow small spines, which are not threatening since they can be easily broken. Its turnip-like root was often used as a food source by Native Americans. It is known as the Queen of the Night, or the Night-Blooming Cereus, and its scientific name is Peniocereus greggii. It is a night blooming flower which only blooms once a year. The flower does not last until sunrise, and then returns to its original state, going dormant in the winter.

“Queen of the Night” is a sculpture in the round. The piece consists of a green stem with a single side branch bearing a fully-opened white blossom. Dark green beads surround the stem, studded with small circular motifs to represent the ribs of the cactus. Lighter green and iridescent beads create the leafstalk, and white beads describe the petals. The cactus is set in sand, and “planted” in a white ceramic pot with crackle glaze. “Queen of the Night” has been shown at “Our Favorite Things: Fiber and Needle Art From Southern Arizona Guilds and Clubs” from November 30, 2000 – January 28, 2001 , where it received the Juror’s Choice Award for “Use of Desert Imagery”. It was also featured in an article for Interweave press by Arlene Baker entitled “Beads In Bloom: The Art of Making French Beaded Flowers” which was published in April 2002.  Francis W. Mueller donated this piece to Tohono Chul Park in 2000, in memory of Ann Walker Schroeder. 

At Tohono Chul Park , we have the largest public collection of Night-Blooming Cereus in the United States . We can boast of over 330 specimens, and when they bloom it is truly as sight to see. If you are interested in seeing these plants bloom, check out Tohono Chul Park's Queen of the Night web page. 

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