Barrel Cactus!

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The plant with something for everyone The barrel cactus is an important partner for lots of desert species. Not only does the plant receive pollinaon from insects and seed dispersal from vertebrates, but it also hires ants to defend it against insect herbivores. It does this by producing sugary nectar that the ants can feed on. By providing food year-round and arac8ng s8nging or aggressive ants, the plants stay relavely damage-free. © 1985 Jim Honcoop / Barrel cactus spines both deter mammal ASDM Sonoran Desert Digital Library herbivores and protect against sunburn. The spines reflect harmful UV radiaon and protect vulnerable fleshy surfaces. Like all plants, barrel cac8 take in CO2, which they use to make food, through their stomata. Many desert plants open these stomata at night to minimize water loss. The barrel’s deep side grooves also allow the plant to swell and store water without tearing. Each barrel cactus fruit The barrel cactus is an contains hundreds to out-crosser that must be thousands of seeds. A pollinated in order to single visit from a produce seeds. Its open pollinator results in about flower shape makes it 20% of average seed appealing to many insects, produc8on. Most flowers but nave solitary bees probably receive about 6 are the most important © 1990 Mark Dimmi> / visitors over the 2-5 days pollinators. ASDM Sonoran Desert Digital Library they are open. Uprooted barrel cactus have survived up to 6 years in a laboratory without water! In the wild, hard frosts are more life-threatening than extreme heat. Once dead, the © 2009 Daniel F. Aus8n / rong 8ssue of this cactus can be home to more than 35 ASDM Sonoran Desert Digital Library different beetle species. .

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Pollination of Two Species of Ferocactus: Interactions Between Cactus-Specialist Bees and Their Host Plants
Functional Blackwell Publishing, Ltd. Ecology 2005 Pollination of two species of Ferocactus: interactions 19, 727–734 between cactus-specialist bees and their host plants M. E. MCINTOSH Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 1041 E. Lowell Street; BioSciences West, Room 310, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA Summary 1. Resolving the controversy over the prevalence of generalization in plant–pollinator interactions requires field studies characterizing the pollination effectiveness of all a plant’s floral visitors. Herein, the pollination effectiveness of all visitors to two species of barrel cactus (Ferocactus) was quantified. 2. Flowers of both species were pollinated almost exclusively by cactus-specialist bees: 99% (F. cylindraceus (Engelm.) Orcutt) and 94% (F. wislizeni (Engelm.) Britt. and Rose) of all seeds produced in this study resulted from cactus bee visits. 3. For F. cylindraceus, the cactus-specialist Diadasia rinconis was the most abundant visitor. For F. wislizeni, three cactus-specialists (including D. rinconis) plus generalists in the family Halictidae (which did not act as pollinators) each accounted for a quarter of all visits. 4. Diadasia rinconis visits to F. wislizeni flowers were more effective (per-visit) than visits by the other two cactus-specialists. 5. Pollen-collecting and nectar-collecting visits were equally effective. Nectar-collecting visits were the most abundant. 6. Apart from the non-pollinating halictids, floral visitors surprisingly did not include commonly co-occurring generalist bees. 7. These data suggest that, just as apparently specialized flowers may be visited by a diverse assemblage of generalists, so apparently generalized flowers may be visited predominantly by specialists, and that these specialists may perform virtually all of the pollination.
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Cactus (Opuntia Spp.) As Forage 169
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Create a High Desert Cactus Garden
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Succulent Container Gardening 101
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Clover's Cactus Transplant Data Review
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Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society Guide to Common Cactus and Succulents of Tucson
Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society Guide to Common Cactus and Succulents of Tucson http://www.tucsoncactus.org/c-s_database/index.html Item ID: 1 Item ID: 2 Family: Cactaceae Family: Cactaceae Genus: Ferocactus Genus: Echinocactus Species: wislizenii Species: grusonii Common Name: Fishhook Barrel Common Name: Golden Barrel Habitat: Various soil types from 1,000 Cactus to 6,000 feet elevation from grasslands Habitat: Located on rolling hills to rocky mountainous areas. and cliffs. Range: Arizona, southwestern New Range: Limited to small areas in Mexico, limited extremes of western Queretaro, Mexico. The popula- Texas, Sonora, northwest Chihuahua tion had become very low in num- and northern Sinaloa, Mexico bers over the years but is just Care: An extremely easy plant to grow now beginning to increase due to in and around the Tucson area. It re- protective laws and the fact that Photo Courtesy of Vonn Watkins quires little attention or special care as this plant is now in mass cultiva- ©1999 it is perfectly at home in almost any tion all over the world. garden setting. It is very tolerant of ex- Photo Courtesy of American Desert Care: The Golden Barrel has slow- Description treme heat as well as cold. Cold hardi- Plants ly become one of the most pur- This popular barrel cactus is noted ness tolerance is at around 10 degrees chased plants for home landscape for the beautiful golden yellow farenheit. Description in Tucson. It is an easy plant to spines that thickly surround the Propagation: Propagation of this cac- This plant is most recognized by the grow and takes no special care.
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Crop Ecology, Cultivation and Uses of Cactus Pear
CROP ECOLOGY, CULTIVATION AND USES OF CACTUS PEAR Advance draft prepared for the IX INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON CACTUS PEAR AND COCHINEAL CAM crops for a hotter and drier world Coquimbo, Chile, 26-30 March 2017 CROP ECOLOGY, CULTIVATION AND USES OF CACTUS PEAR Editorial team Prof. Paolo Inglese, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Italy; General Coordinator Of the Cactusnet Dr. Candelario Mondragon, INIFAP, Mexico Dr. Ali Nefzaoui, ICARDA, Tunisia Prof. Carmen Sáenz, Universidad de Chile, Chile Coordination team Makiko Taguchi, FAO Harinder Makkar, FAO Mounir Louhaichi, ICARDA Editorial support Ruth Duffy Book design and layout Davide Moretti, Art&Design − Rome Published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas Rome, 2017 The designations employed and the FAO encourages the use, reproduction and presentation of material in this information dissemination of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any product. Except where otherwise indicated, opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food material may be copied, downloaded and Agriculture Organization of the United and printed for private study, research Nations (FAO), or of the International Center and teaching purposes, or for use in non- for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas commercial products or services, provided (ICARDA) concerning the legal or development that appropriate acknowledgement of FAO status of any country, territory, city or area as the source and copyright holder is given or of its authorities, or concerning the and that FAO’s endorsement of users’ views, delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
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Christmas+Cactus+Care+Sheet.Pdf
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Saguaro Parts
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