Organ Pipe Cactus

Stenocereus thurberi

Organ Pipe Cactus reaches the northern limit of its range in southern Arizona, where Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument protects the largest US population. It produces multiple columnar stems from a common base, resembling a pipe organ — hence its name. Unlike saguaro, it blooms at night, with pale lavender flowers pollinated primarily by lesser long-nosed bats. The sweet red fruits ripen in summer and were a staple food for the Tohono O'odham people, who made wine and syrup from them. It is frost-sensitive and cannot survive the temperatures that occur north of the monument.

Habitat

Rocky desert slopes and bajadas of the Sonoran Desert in extreme southern Arizona and Sonora, Mexico.

Diet

Night-blooming flowers pollinated by lesser long-nosed bats; sweet fruits eaten by coyotes, javelinas, white-winged doves, and Gila woodpeckers.

How common

Rare