~Skeletonize Saguaro At Sunset~

~Carnegiea gigantea~


This long ago expired Saguaro,
pronounced 'sah-wah-roh',
look like this younger one
in all probability one to two hundred years ago.
They have to live a minimum seventy-five years
just to get their first side arm or appendage.
The more arms that one has increases
the plants reproductive capacity.
On the tip of each arm,
in late spring or early summer,
is where the flowers bloom,
and that means more fruit,
and that means more seeds.
Makes sense to me!
A pollenated flower produces a fruit
that can contain two thousand seeds.
The biggest Saguaro known of
is 45 feet tall and 10 feet around.

Going out early tomorrow morning
and try to get some photographs
of the Saguaro flowers blooming.
They only bloom at night
and by mid-morning
the flowers have whithered.
Wish me luck, that is when
the rattlesnakes are out too!!!


Thanks for looking!