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Description of  The Saguaro Cactus: A Natural History (Southwest Center Series)

0816540047 pdf 0816540047 pdf The saguaro, with its great size and characteristic shapeits arms stretching heavenward, its silhouette often resembling a humanhas become the emblem of the Sonoran Desert of southwestern Arizona and northwestern Mexico. The largest and tallest cactus in the United States, it is both familiar and an object of fascination and curiosity. This book offers a complete natural history of this enduring and iconic desert plant. Gathering everything from the saguaros role in Sonoran Desert ecology to its adaptations to the desert climate and its sacred place in Indigenous culture, this book shares precolonial through current scientific findings. The saguaro is charismatic and readily accessible but also decidedly different from other desert flora. The essays in this book bear witness to our ongoing fascination with the great cactus and the plants unusual characteristics, covering the saguaros: history of discovery, place in the cactus family, ecology, anatomy and physiology, genetics, and ethnobotany. Read more