These photographs are a continuation of blogs from two days’ exploration of Finger Rock Canyon of the Santa Catalina Mountains, southern Arizona. Here we explore the nature of the Saguaro blossom.

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Saguaro flowers start as buds on the tip of the cactus body or arm. The specimen in the photograph below, growing in the yard of a foothills home on the border of federal land, is over 30 feet tall and, at the end of April 2011, buds are sprouting from every tip.  Look closely for opening buds and full saguaro blossoms.

Flower buds grow only from some tips and around the center, along the sides, not from the point at the very end of the tip, from which the limb grows.

These buds first appeared mid-April and are here shown in the latter stages of maturity, prior to opening.  Sometimes, the base of an arm weakens and the arm lowers close to the ground while remaining healthy.  While descending the canyon I noticed this had happened to the arm of a particularly large specimen, an arm in full flower.  This and the following photographs are from that arm.

I have read that each flower opens in the cool of the night and lasts only until the following afternoon.  Here is a fully blossomed flower with a pair of opening buds.

And more, from a different view of the same arm.

A saguaro flower in full bloom, having opened the previous night. This flower will last a single day. It will wilt in the heat of a single afternoon and close. In this brief time, flying animals will pollinate it. You can see numerous honey bees on the flowers, in a previous blog, “Saguaro Flowers in Finger Rock Canyon.”

Copyright 2023 Michael Stephen Wills