Icons of the west, the saguaro cactus reminds me of people. And while visiting Saguaro National Park I met a few prickly characters.

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The grow in all shapes and sizes.

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The Sonoran Desert is the only place where the saguaro cactus grows naturally.

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If a saguaro seedling is to survive, it needs the protection of a “nurse plant”, (or in this case rock) which provides protection from the sun and freezing temperatures.

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After its first year, the seedlings highly variable growth is controlled by the amount of water in the soil.

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Saguaro’s flowers open at night during May and June and are pollinated by nectar feeding bats, but not until they are 35-40 years old when they may stand up to six feet tall.

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The first arm on a saguaro usually appears when the plant is 65-75 years old.

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Saguaro branches always grow upward but frost or snow can damage the base of a limb allowing the weight of the branch to pull it down.

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Yet if the branch survives, the growing tip will turn upward again.

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They normally live for 150-200 years and can grow to 50 feet tall. Death may come by freezing, lightning, wind, old age, vandalism or human development.

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When a saguaro dies, the woody ribs that supported it in life become visible as the softer plant tissue dries up and crumbles away.

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