Carnegiea gigantea

 Carnegiea gigantea (Saguaro)

Cactaceae

• It is arguably the most famous cactus in the world-as well as iconic image of the desert southwest- with its massive form and upraised branches that give it an almost human form. While it is common in the desert uplands of Arizona and adjacent parts of northern Mexico, it is rarely uncommon in California. It has a CNPS Rare Plant Rank: 2B, rare, threatened, or endangered in California; common elsewhere. Saguaros are found infrequently on gravelly slopes and flats of creosote bush scrub to about 1,500 feet near the Colorado River and in the Whipple Mountains of southeastern San Bernandino County. "California Desert Plants, Philip W Rundel, Robert J Gustafson, Micahel E Kauffmann."
• This unmistakable columnar cactus is the most familiar plant in the eastern Sonoran Desert. Bee researchers have shown that a saguaro produces an average of 300 trumpet-like flowers a season. Bats have lost out in the present day to pesticides and habitat loss, but bee pollinators have taken over and are now responsible for most of the fruit set in saguaro. Saguaros are largely restricted to rocky hillsides and coarse gravels on upper and lower bajada slopes. Three-fourths of the flowering is concentrated within six weeks, usually between the last of May and early July. However, a few blooms are spotted early in April, and infrequent stragglers open into the fall. "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflores, 1988". 
• Seed in flats for transplanting/light-dark alteration; warm temperature/Time of planting: spring-summer. "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988".