Barrel Cactus

Entries

1. Entry 1

   Native to southern Arizona, southern New Mexico, far west Texas, and northern Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico, it grows on gravelly bajadas between 1,000 and 5,300 feet elevation.

2. Entry 2

   Adult plants often lean southward toward the sun, earning the nickname "compass barrel," though the heavy lopsided columns sometimes topple over into the mud after sudden rains.

3. Entry 3

   Seri and Tohono O'odham peoples ate the flower buds and sour fruit as emergency food; Sonoran Desert residents still make candy and jelly from the pineapple-shaped fruit.

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