Pachycereus pringlei (Cardón)

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Pachycereus pringlei (S. Watson) Britton & Rose 1909

Cardón, cardón gigante, cardón pelón, sagueso, sahuaso, Mexican giant cardon, elephant cactus

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Caryophyllidae	Cacti, many other succulents, carnivorous plants, and leadworts
Order	Caryophyllales	Includes cacti, carnations, amaranths, ice plants, and many carnivorous plants
Family	Cactaceae	Succulent (water-storing) plants, often spiny
Genus	Pachycereus
Species	pringlei	After Cyrus Guernsey Pringle (1838-1911), a Quaker imprisoned for refusal to enter the Union Army, later an ardent collector and classifier of southwestern flora, eventually donating 500,000 specimens to the University of Vermont, to what became the Pringle Herbarium

About plant names...

These imposing cacti are native to the Sonoran Desert and on the Baja peninsula in Mexico.

Identification: Cardón occurs as very tall columns, sometimes branched, up to 36' (11 m) high, with trunks 24" (60 cm) in diameter. They closely resemble Saguaros, a related species, and play a similar ecological role. Stems are strongly furrowed with 10-16 ribs, dark green or bluish green, becoming yellow green. Multiple white flowers appear near the tips, each up to 3" (8 cm) long. They are shaped like funnels or bells. Spherical fruits are covered with yellowish brown fine hairs and bristles, and are 2½" (7 cm) long.