Description: [syn. Cereus giganteus Engelm.]
Large, columnar, ribbed stem to 60 feet high and 2 feet thick, ribs 12-30; spines 20-25, gray, needle-shaped to awl-shaped, 1/2 to 3 inches long, yellow in upper areoles; flowers white, to 5 inches long, closing next afternoon; fruit oblong, red, to 3 inches in diameter, edible. Spring and summer.
This is the largest member of the Cactaceae and can reach 12 tons in weight and alleged to live more than 200 years. Pollinated by birds and insects by day, bats by night.
Sometimes transplanted from the wild but not thriving in cultivation.

Uses: This plant has been important as a food and drink and is still collected and used in ceremonies.

Culture: In a low-humidity, low-rainfall climate this cactus is suitable for garden or container cultivation, though it is not very easy to grow away from its native climate. Plant in humus-rich, gritty, very well-drained soil in full sun. Propagate from seed or offsets.

Hortus Third, LH Bailey Hortorium, 1976 Botanica, Turner & Wasson, 1997, CD-ROM Version

Cactaceae

Country of Origin: Southern Arizona, southeast California and northwest Mexico
Habitat: Sonoran desert

Subfamily Cactoideae