Arizona barrel cactus (from RimJournal: art and adobe brick, Mexico, the American Southwest, poetry, fiction and food)

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[Large, barrel shaped cactus with ring of red-orange flowers on the top: 35k]

Arizona barrel cactus

(Ferocactus wislizenii)

Cactus Family.
Blooms August-September in southern Arizona, southwest New Mexico and into northern Mexico. The California Barrel and Sonora Barrel are similar species.
4-5 feet up to 8 feet (1.25-2.5 meters) high, fat with hooked spines which glisten red when wet. Older plants lean to the south and sometimes fall over. The flowers are red-orange, shading to yellow and bloom in a ring at the top of the cactus.

[Red-orange flowers form a wreath: 34k]

This frost resistant barrel grows in the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts and on up into the mountains. The bright yellow fruits are edible, eaten by rodents, birds and javelina.

Both the fruits and the plant have been used to make cactus candy, but this destroys the stands. This cactus, as well as all the others, are protected by law and it is illegal to dig them up or chop them open. Like many cactus, the barrel has a fleshy interior, but it is NOT full of water.

[Fat, yellow fruits in a ring among the protective fishhook spines: 8k]

Browse color tocs: white to cream | yellow to yellow-orange | pink to red-orange | blue to purple | green, etc.

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