|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
|
||||
|
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
|
||||
|
|
||||
 |
This is the largest and tallest cacti of all---the Saguro. It grows very slowly at first---a saguaro may be 20-50 years old when only a yard(0.9m)high. The tallest can reach up to 50 ft high and one any live up to 200 years. They have the ability to store a lot of water in their thick stems. The special thing is that the stem can expand and contract. (picture) It is indeed very useful. Here is a list of it's usage:
1.
Provide food and homes for the white-winged dove, the Gila-woodpecker,
the cactus wren and the elf owl. Let's see how a Gila-woodpecker make
their nests there! [Home Sweet Home of the elf owl :)] ******************************************************** The adult birds peck a little hole at the side of the sarguaro, then further in, further in. Turn a right-angle, furher in and further in. Now a 'saguaro boot' is formed, which is also the cozy home of the woodpeckers' family. After the cactus is dead and decomposed, these hollow forms of saguaro boot will be left on the ground, and the Indians use them as food containers! Besides of Gilas, the enormous Harris' hawks simply make their huge(of course) nest on the arms of the saguaro. Teeny-tiny elf owls also build their home-sweet-homes there. ******************************************************** 2. Desert people such as Indians mash the saguaro up for liquid in times of drought. They also eat its fruit--- which had a red pulp resembling that of a watermelon, and it can also be preserved into a syrupy form for months. Its juice, when fermented, can be turned into an alchoholic drink. Also, its seeds can be used as butter. 3. The stems made lodgepole for the Indian dwellings, and even if it dried up it can be used as a source of fuel.
|
The
Saguaro(Carnegiea
Gigantea)
[The
huge saguaro] 