Google says either term is acceptable for the plural...with cacti the more common.
We have seen a bunch of them...enough for 3 lifetimes...although, we have gotten to know our cactus pretty well!
The commons...Prickly Pear, the various Cholla, Ocotilla, Yucca and of course, their partners in crime, the Creosote bush, Palo Verde tree and Mesquite.
And other than an arm amputation from a Yucca (well, maybe it was just a finger prick), we have survived...at least so far!
And of course...the Saguaro ("sa-WAR-o").
The iconic poster child of cacti...and as might be expected, we found them in mass at the Saguaro National Park just north of Tucson.
They are so western...you expect to see them with holsters tied down low and six shooters in the cross draw...and every one of them guilty of holding up stage coaches, trains or cattle rustling....
"...All righty there Mr. Saguaro, come out with your hands up!..."
And King Canyon Trail in Saguaro National Park was the perfect 3 mile loop hike and thanks to guidance from one of the Rangers back at the Visitor Center, we had a chance to see some hieroglyphs up close that are often missed on the trail.
And 200 years from now, people will be taking their equivalent of a photo of the graffiti from the ruins of New York City and trying to figure out what it means...!
Once we learned about the Saguaro and where they grew, it's almost as if they became our travel buddies, our token benchmark telling us whether we were still in the Sonoran Desert.
Bisbee, yup...Tombstone, yup... Phoenix, a few...California, nope.
If you look back at the Tonto Indian cliff dwelling post, Saguaro are present.
They were also a staple and main plant used by the extinct tribe who built Casa Grande - the Big House, also posted previously.
The Saguaro was the source of life, food, baskets, storage containers, wood for tools, and markers for the passing seasons.
It was the desert south-west equivalent of the venerable Maple hugged and worshiped by modern day Vermonters...
And since Saguaro are native to Arizona and the Sonora Desert, should you see a western with Saguaro present, it was not filmed in Texas!!!
Let the adventure continue...
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