It Can Take 50 Years for a Saguaro Cactus to Grow One Arm
It’s not easy to be a cactus — surviving in a scorching environment with little water is a pretty tough task for most plants. Some cacti, like the saguaro, have adapted by taking their sweet time to grow. In fact, saguaro cacti often reach just 1.5 inches in the first 10 years of their lives. Growing their iconic arms — often featured in old Western films and desert art landscapes — can take 50 years, or even up to 100 years in drought-like conditions.
Many saguaros do not flower until they reach 35 years old. And although they produce some 40 million seeds over their lifetime, odds are that just one of their cacti descendants will survive to adulthood after battling arid conditions, trampling, human interference, and invasive species that threaten their environments. Reaching their maximum size — upwards of 45 feet tall and more than 2 tons in weight — can take 175 to 200 years, close to the end of a saguaro’s lengthy lifespan. But there is perhaps one consolation involved in that long journey: Saguaros are the largest cactus species in the US.
These slow-growing giants are found wild only in the Sonoran Desert, which stretches from southeastern California across southwestern Arizona and into Mexico. Despite their vulnerabilities, saguaro are important plants in the Sonoran ecosystem, providing fruit for birds, nectar for bats and other pollinators, and superb nesting spots for wildlife — which is why these colossal cacti are legally protected native plants in Arizona.
Source: interestingfacts.com
Contributed by Jane Hart