Donna Price / American PressTo catch a cereus cactus in full bloom, one must literally get up in the middle of the night. Five white blooms began opening up on this cereus cactus in Lake Charles around 10 p.m. Tuesday night, peaking shortly after midnight. The blooms are notoriously short-lived, wilting by daybreak. The cereus cactus is also lnown as the Christ in the manger or nativity plant and the queen of the night.