Pollination of Cacti in the Sonoran Desert

By Theodore Fleming

When closely related species vie for scarce resources, necessity is the mother of some pretty unusual evolutionary inventions

Environment Evolution

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September-October 2000

Volume 88, Number 5
Page 432

DOI: 10.1511/2000.35.432

The Sonoran Desert of northwestern Mexico and southern Arizona is the biologically richest of the world's deserts. It is filled with many fascinating kinds of plants and animals, but my vote for the crème de la crème among plants has to be the columnar cacti. Anyone thinking about this desert automatically pictures the statuesque saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea) and its relatives. To many of us, these cacti have become the hallmarks of the Sonoran Desert.

Gary Braasch

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