Home | Arizona y Sonora > Desert wildflowers > Pink to red-orange flowers > Arizona barrel cactus

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

Arizona barrel cactus

(Ferocactus wislizenii)


[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 pink to red-orange: Arizona barrel cactus | Arizona fishhook cactus | Chuparosa | Fairy duster | Globe mallow | Mariposa lily | Parry penstemon

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


RimJournal Home | Contents | top of page

Browse: Arizona and Sonora | Alamos, Mexico | desert wildflowers | adobe/mud brick | recipes | Portfolio art, poetry, short stories

PNG figure

Contact us
Photographs, artwork and text are copyright © Carolyn Leigh, 1996-2022. All rights reserved.
https://www.rimjournal.com/arizyson/wldflowr/pinkreds/barrelct.htm
RimJournal, Tucson, AZ, USA at https://www.rimjournal.com/