Carnegiea gigantea (Englm.) Britt. and Rose
- Common Name: Saguaro
- Family: Cactaceae Juss.
- Synonym(s): Cereus giganteus Engelm.
- Country of Origin: southwestern USA, northern Mexico
- Habitat: Sonoran Desert
- Description: 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: Edible fruit and seeds, wood formerly used in construction
Accession Data:
Classification:
- Division: Magnoliophyta
- Class: Magnoliopsida
- SubClass: core eudicots
- Order: Caryophyllales
- SubOrder:
- Family: Cactaceae
- SubFamily: Cactoideae
- Tribe: Phyllocacteae
- SubTribe: Echinocereinae
References (internal):
References (external):
- Hortus Third, LH Bailey Hortorium, 1976
- Botanica, Turner & Wasson, 1997, CD-ROM Version
- Image #00 (cropped) & #01 (original) by Ken Bosma [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons. Last accessed on Monday, March 05, 2018.
data regenerated on Tue, 15 Oct 2024 10:25:43 -0400 [bcm v4.0]