Pachycereus pringlei

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Pachycereus pringlei
Pachycereus pringlei in Baja California, Mexico
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Core eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Cactaceae
Genus: Pachycereus
Species: P. pringlei
Binomial name
Pachycereus pringlei
(S.Watson) Britton & Rose
Synonyms

Cereus pringlei S.Watson[1]

Pachycereus pringlei, also known as Mexican Giant Cardon or Elephant Cactus, is a species of cactus that is native to northwestern Mexico in the states of Baja California, Baja California Sur, and Sonora. It is commonly known as Cardón, a name derived from the Spanish word cardo, meaning "thistle."[2]

Large stands of these magnificent cactus still exist, but many have been destroyed as land has been cleared for cultivation in Sonora.

The fruit of this cactus was an important food for the Seri people in Sonora, who call the cactus xaasj.[3]

The flesh of this cactus contains alkaloids, and may have been used as a psychoactive plant in Mexico.[4]

A symbiotic relationship with bacterial and fungal colonies on its roots allows P. pringlei to grow on bare rock even where there is no soil available at all, as the bacteria can fix nitrogen from the air and break down the rock to produce nutrients. The cactus even packages symbiotic bacteria in with its seeds.[5][6][7]

Morphology

Cardon is the tallest cactus species in the world, with a maximum recorded height of 19.2 m (63 ft),[8] with a stout trunk up to 1 m (3.3 ft) in diameter bearing several erect branches. In overall appearance, it resembles the related saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea), but differs in the following:

  • fewer ribs on the stems
  • more heavily branched
  • branching occurs nearer the base of the stem
  • areoles and spination differ
  • the location of the blossoms, lower along the stem
  • fruit heavily spiny

Flowers white, large, nocturnal, appear along the ribs as opposed to only apices of the stems.

Average Lifespan and Growth

  • An average mature cardon may reach a height of ten meters, but individuals as tall as eighteen meters are known (León de la Luz and Valiente 1994). It is a slow growing plant (Roberts, 1989) with a life span measured in hundreds of years, but growth can be significantly enhanced in its initial stages by inoculation with plant growth-promoting bacteria such as Azospirillum sp. (Bashan et al., 1999; Carrillo et al., 2000; Puente and Bashan, 1993). Most adult cardon have several side branches that may be as massive as the trunk. The resulting tree may attain a weight of 25 tons (Gibson and Nobel, 1986).

Gallery

  • P. pringlei

  • field of P. pringlei

  • P. pringlei with an osprey nest atop

  • P. pringlei with blossoms

  • P. pringlei flowering

References

  1. ↑ "Taxon: Pachycereus pringlei (S. Watson) Britton & Rose". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 2003-08-29. Retrieved 2011-11-03. 
  2. ↑ Chamlee, Bob. "Cardón cactus, Pachycereus pringlei". Los Cabos Guide to Good Eating and More!. Retrieved 2011-11-03. 
  3. ↑
    • Felger, Richard; Mary B. Moser. (1985). People of the desert and sea: ethnobotany of the Seri Indians. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. ISBN 0-8165-0818-6. 
  4. ↑ Brown, Ethan (September 2002). "Professor X". Wired Magazine. 
  5. ↑ Puente, M. E.; Y. Bashan, C. Y. Li, and V. K. Lebsky (September 2004). "Microbial populations and activities in the rhizoplane of rock-weathering desert plants. I. Root colonization and weathering of igneous rocks". Plant Biology (Stuttgart) 6 (5): 629–42. doi:10.1055/s-2004-821100. PMID 15375735. 
  6. ↑ Puente, M. E.; C. Y. Li, and Y. Bashan (September 2004). "Microbial populations and activities in the rhizoplane of rock-weathering desert plants. II. Growth promotion of cactus seedlings". Plant Biology (Stuttgart) 6 (5): 643–50. doi:10.1055/s-2004-821101. PMID 15375736. 
  7. ↑ Walker, Matt (2009-08-19). "How cacti become 'rock busters'". BBC News. 
  8. ↑ Salak, M. "In search of the tallest cactus". Cactus and Succulent Journal 72 (3). 

External links

Media related to Pachycereus pringlei at Wikimedia Commons Data related to Pachycereus pringlei at Wikispecies

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