Note: This photograph is used with the permission of Joe Pleggenkuhle. The Creative Commons License used for most Botany Photo of the Day images does not apply to this particular image and its larger linked version.
Christopher Keller, a reader of Botany Photo of the Day, asked me if we could honour this particular saguaro cactus, “The Grand One” with an entry (for an idea of its height, note the person standing near the trunk). “The Grand One”, sad to say, may not survive recent fires north of Phoenix, Arizona.
Seekers of champion saguaro cacti, including Joe Pleggenkuhle (note: Angelfire site, so it has pop-ups), believe that the combination of height (46 feet / 14m), girth (94 inches / 2.4m) and crown width (12 feet x 12 feet / 3.7m x 3.7m) make this the largest saguaro in Arizona, if not the world (larger version of the image).
To read more about Carnegiea gigantea, see: the life cycle of the saguaro cactus or a guide to the saguaro (PDF), both from the US National Park Service. The Wikipedia entry on saguaro also features a decent set of images.
ooh. Cactus-ie.
WOW!!! I can only imangine.........
Biiiiiiiiig!
So....I always click through the back years on these photos (side note: what a great website this is), and clicked to this one today -- 4 years after posting. All I can say is these plants are nothing short of remarkable; I grew to love them in my days at the U of Arizona -- we all need to do all we can to ensure their continued life on this planet.....