Organ Pipe Cactus
Stenocereus thurberi

Family: Cactaceae

The organ pipe cactus gets its name from its growth form which has several stems arising mostly from the base of the plant, resembling the pipes of an organ. Plants typically grow 10-15’ tall though there are specimens in Mexico approaching 25’ tall. This species flowers annually; those flowers are open at night and close by the morning and have a purple or pink tint to them. When fertilized, the flowers produce ball-shaped spikey fruits with red flesh. This cactus has a very prominent skeleton that is left long after the plant dies.

Plant in full sun. Low water when established, but a drink once or twice in the summer is advisable to keep the plants looking good, especially when rainfall is scarce. This plant is hardy into the mid-twenties °F, and the most frost tender of the plant is the growing tips, which people will protect with styrofoam cups.

The flowers are pollinated by bats and moths. The fruits are edible to people as well as numerous birds and other animals. The fruits are delicious, like a super-sweet watermelon.

The Organ Pipe National Monument is named after this species, where the plant makes meets most of its northern limit, though a few other small populations and individuals can be found north of there.

Stenocerus comes from the Greek steno for narrow and the Latin cereus meaning a tapered candle, while thurberi is named for Dr. George Thurber (1821-1890) a botanist with the Mexican Boundary Survey. There are 24 species of Stenocereus found on the Baja California Peninsula and other parts of Mexico, Arizona in the United States, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Venezuela and the West Indies.

Photo by vladimir_epiktetov on iNaturalist
Stenocereus thurberi on SEINET