Some facts about cardon cactus

The cardon is one of the most massive of all cacti. An average mature cardon may reach a height of ten meters, but individuals as tall as eighteen meters are known (León de la Luz and Valiente 1994). It is a slow growing plant (Roberts, 1989) with a life span measured in hundreds of years, but growth can be significantly enhanced in its initial stages by inoculation with plant growth-promoting bacteria such as Azospirillum sp. (Bashan et al., 1999; Carrillo et al., 2000; Puente and Bashan, 1993). Most adult cardon have several side branches that may be as massive as the trunk. The resulting tree may attain a weight of 25 tons (Gibson and Nobel, 1986). Adult cardon is adapted to the harsh climate of Baja California, characterized by drought and high temperatures, but as a seedling and juvenile it depends for survival on nurse plants, such as mesquite (Prosopis articulata) (Carrillo-García et al., 1999). In alluvial soils in southern Baja California, the cardons, and other cacti, occupy an extensive area.

Some outstanding environmental features of cardon cactus:

• The giant cardon stands out as possessing characteristics desirable for the stabilization of disturbed arid soils; a wide-spread, finally branched, shallow root system capable of responding to rare rainfall episodes by rapid regrowth (Bashan et al., 1999; Bravo-Hollis, 1978; Nobel, 1996).
• The highly nutritious and succulent fruits of the cardon (Valencia et al., 1985), available in abundance during the desert dry season when other food sources are scarce, are a major source of nutrients to many desert birds and lesser long-nosed bats (Leptonycteris curasoae). The latter are the major pollinators of the night-blooming flowers of cardon and depend on them for survival (Tuttle,1991).