Blossoming

The recent brutally cold spell in Miami seemed to help this plant blooming spectacularly starting now. There are dozens of these huge Cup of Gold Vine flowers. This is the first one that is wide opened. This vine, although it grows here just like a large plant, is Solandra nitida Zuccagni, aka Solandra maxima, the Chalice vine of the family Solanaceae. It is one of the ten known species recognized as S. boliviano, S. brachycalyx, S. brevicalyx, S. grandiflora, S. longiflora, S. maxima, S. nizandensis, S. paraensis, S. guerrerensis and S. guttata. I stay far away from this plant as all parts of it are poisonous if ingested. Not that I would ingest any part of it.