Cardon in Bloom

The cardón cactus (Pachycereus pringlei) is the world's largest cactus. There are about 1200 species of cactus, all of them native to the Americas. The cardón is nearly endemic to the deserts of the Baja California peninsula. Some of the largest cardones have been measured at nearly 21 meters (70 feet) high and weigh up to 25 tons. These very slow growing plants are also extremely long-lived, and many specimens live well over 300 years. ''Cardo'' means ''thistle'' in Spanish. It is said that when Hernando Cortes attempted to establish a settlement in Baja in 1535, the many spiny cacti earned it the name ''Isla de Cardón'', because at the time, they believed the peninsula was an island. In Latin, ''pachy'' means thick and ''cereus'' means waxy. One has only to see the thick arms of this pale gray-green, waxy skinned cactus to understand what the traveling American botanist, Cyrus Pringle, meant when he named the species.