saguaro cactus in Saguaro in Arizona USA
details of the saguaro cactus The Saguaro, pronounced "sah-wah-roh", (Carnegiea gigantea) is a large, tree-sized cactus species in the monotypic genus Carnegiea. It is native to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California, and an extremely small area of California. The saguaro blossom is the state flower of Arizona. The common name of the cactus, saguaro, is a Spanish-language adaptation of a word used by a local aboriginal American nation, the Tohono O'odham, for the plant. Saguaros have a relatively long life span. They take up to 75 years to develop a side arm. The arms themselves are grown to increase the plant's reproductive capacity (more apices equal more flowers and fruit). The growth rate of saguaros is strongly dependent on local precipitation patterns, and saguaros in drier western Arizona grow only half as fast as those in and around Tucson, Arizona. Some specimens may live for more than 150 years;[1] the champion saguaro grows in Maricopa County, Arizona and is meters ( ft) tall with a girth of meters (10 ft). (It was injured as a result of the Cave Creek Complex fire in June 2005.) In addition to being slow growing, they are also slow to propagate. Harming one in any manner (including cactus plugging) is illegal by state law in Arizona, and when houses or highways are built, special permits must be obtained to move or destroy any saguaro affected. The spines on smaller saguaro (having a height less than 2 meters or 6 feet) grow rapidly, up to a millimeter per day. When held up to the light or bisected, alternating light and dark bands transverse to the long axis of spines can be seen. These "transverse bands" have been correlated to daily growth (one light/dark couplet equals one day of growth). In columnar cacti, spines almost always grow from the apex of the plant and then cease to grow as they are moved to the side and the apex continues to grow upwards. Thus, the older spines are towards th
Size: 3507px × 4960px
Photo credit: © gary corbett / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: .., america, americana, arizona, cactus, california, closeup, dangerous, details, ecology, exterior, full, national, nature, north, np, organ, park, pipe, plant, prickly, ribs, saguaro, side, states, tall, thorns, united, usa
