The Cinderella flower

This flower's fairy godmother allows her to come out once a year for a couple of hours around midnight. The flower uses this time well and comes out in full glory to literally cast a shadow on pretty much any flower. This is what 'we' call the Brahma Kamal. It took me a while to find an authoritative link on the details of this flower because the real Brahma Kamal is a Himalayan flower that grows at a height of 4500m. The two flowers clearly look different but share the same characteristics with regards to the way they bloom and in size.

It is a rare flower in many aspects. Unlike most plants this one doesn't have a stem - the leaves stem out from other leaves and so does the flower. A leaf can be planted and it will multiply and you will be able to see it bloom the following Jun-Jul (if you are lucky!). The petals do look like the lotus flower and probably the origin of common name. It is a compound flower and seems to contain a flower inside a flower.
An interesting blog post on the flower.

We were lucky to see 5 flowers bloom, 2 on one night and 3 on the following night (even the buds awaiting their night out look fantastic). A sweet fragrance lingered in the room. I spent several minutes (if not hours) staring at the flower :-).

Name: Epiphyllum Oxypetalum, folks closer to sea level call it Brahmakamal
When: Jul - August (just one night, for a few hours)
Where: At home, Pune