What are you thinking of when imagining a desert? Most people would say it is the sandy soil. Others will immediately say the heat. But there are some people who would answer cactus. As one of the easiest plant to be found in the desert, cactus is so popularly connected to the dessert. They become one of the popular items to characterize desert. Remember one of those cowboy movies that take place in the desert? What do you see as a setting if not sandy ground and cactus? Or maybe the Speedy Gonzales animation movie. You will often see the two running around in the desert and how Speedy Gonzales would lure the bad guys to a cactus.
There are so many different types of cacti. However, when we specified and limit the area to the American desert only, then the most common cactus we would find is the barrel cactus. They are one the cacti with a distinguishing appearance and look. You can distinguish them from the other cacti so easily even though you only saw the species in the photos before. Unlike the other cacti, the body of the barrel cactus is the cylinder shaped. These cacti can grow so high.
They may reach eleven feet tall. However, this is not the regular mature plant’s size. The size can range from 5 to 100 feet tall when they are reaching maturity. However, at this height, they can still be one of the largest and tallest cacti living in the North American desert. A man can be of the same height when standing up or even smaller than the cylindrical cacti.
The barrel cactus has a number of parallel ridges. These ridges run down the sides of the cactus. It is better to stay away from this cactus because not only that they are so big, they also have long and dangerous ridges. These ridges are so sharp. They are about 3 to 4 inches long. To balance their mean look, the barrel cacti can bear beautiful yellow flower.
A little bit of red would top the flower head and rings of yellow and green at the lower part of it. Lately, the cactus is known to have so many uses and that is why the Native Americans living in the North American desert often consume them. They often stew the barrel cactus and they will end up with a cabbage like food. The cacti often become the source of water for them.
