Organ Pipe Cactus
Walk back to Go back to map Go back to chart Go back home
Organ Pipe Cactus
  
(Stenocereus thurberi)
  
IN THE JOSEPH WOOD KRUTCH DESERT GARDEN
  
11 This striking arborescent cactus of the lower Sonoran desert has beautiful white flowers and delicious fruit. There is more information on this cactus at the Organ Pipe National Monument site.

Continue along the virtual walk

In Depth Stenocereus thurberi, Organ Pipe Cactus
Location: IN THE JOSEPH WOOD KRUTCH DESERT GARDEN
Family: Cactaceae, the Cactus family
Distribution: southern Arizona and northwest Mexico
Habitat: Stony desert and rocky hillsides
Habit: tall, erect succulents, usually much branched
Flowering: May - June (night blooming)
Natural History Notes: The name steno means "narrow", and cereus, a "torch-thistle", referring to the spiny and torch-shaped growth forms of these columnar cacti. This cactus is one of the largest in the US, after the Saguaro. Its peculiar shape loosely resembles the clustered pipes of a pipe organ, hence its common name. The flowers are white and open late at night. "The abundant nectar, nocturnal bloom, and musky odor suggest bat pollination. In an artificial setting, both honey-bees and bats pollinated the flowers. The nectar-feeding bats Choeronycteris mexicana and Leptonycteris sanborni are likely important pollinators" (Turner et al. 1995). The Organ pipe is sensitive to cold, and is found in the USA only in Southwestern Arizona, around the Organ Pipe Cactus National Park, but a few isolated individuals have been discovered growing naturally elsewhere in the state, even north of Tucson. It is common in the Sonoran desert and tropical deciduous forests of Mexico. Distinguishing Characteristics: The slow growing Organ pipe is a large cactus, up to 25 ft high and 8 in thick; it branches from the base of the plant (in tropical Mexico the cacti assume a different shape, up to 40-50 feet tall and with single or few trunks, up to 2 feet wide). Its gray-green stems have 12-19 ribs that run the length of the stem. Areoles are set close together with 14-19 brown-black spines up to 1 ½ in, that turn gray with age. Flowers, up to 3 in long, are white in color and then produce 1 ½ inch wide red fruits that split when mature to reveal red flesh inside. Human Uses: Fruits may be eaten fresh, dried, or can be made into a juice. Tohono O'Odham have harvested the fruits for centuries to make a syrup. They also use pulp and seeds as food during the winter. The pulp may be eaten fresh, made into a jelly or fermented into a beverage. The Seri used the cortex and pith of the dry cactus, mixed with animal fat, to make a tar-like caulking compound often used on boats. Ribs from the organ pipe were used to make cooking utensils, torches, fuel, hunting shelters, and the framework of various forms of houses (Felger and Moser 1991). In Mexico the plant is called pitahaya dulce, meaning "sweet cactus" in reference to the edible fruit.