tragedy of tragedies?

A couple weeks ago, I saw that the cacti outside of the Wells Fargo near my home had sprouted some crazy large white flowers. This was on a Friday. On Monday, I came back to take a picture of these flowers, cuz they were so crazy. Alas, they had already withered and closed! I thought maybe it was because it was the morning and they had not opened yet, so I came back again at one-ish, and still they were wizened (that is my new word from this morning's NYT xword). Tragedy of tragedies! Here is a sad picture of the closed flowers:

In order to find a photo of the plant in full bloom, I've been trying to identify the cactus type today. I think it looks a lot like the Echinopsis Pachanoi, aka the San Pedro cactus. Here are some photos:

Both photos from Echinopsis Flowers by Trent.

Anyways, looks to be a match, right? Well, here is interesting fact number 1. It is a night bloomer! So, I will go back tonight and see if it is now in bloom! Only problem is it has been a few weeks, so perhaps I am in for disappointment. But, there is hope! Fact number 2: It can grow to up to 40 feet tall. That is tall! Here is a picture of a tall one:

From eFloras.

Fact number 3 is that the plant contains mescaline. Wikipedia says:

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the highest concentrations of active substances are found in the layer of green photosynthetic tissue just beneath the skin.

So, if you're (a) resourceful and (b) looking to score some unguarded mescaline, here's the place:

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PS Please don't eat the pretty pretty cacti! I was only trying to be cool!