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Pachycereus is a genus of about 12 species of large cacti native to Mexico and just into southern Arizona, USA. They form large shrubs or small trees up to 5–15 m or more tall, with stout stems up to 1 meter in diameter. Pachycereus comes from the ancient Greek "pakhus" meaning "thick" and the Latin "cereus" meaning "torch".
The genus Pachycereus contains some of the largest growing cacti of all. One species is reported to reach a height of 25 meters! Although not all species are quite that large, all of them are columnar and feature tree-like growth. Stems are ribbed and may be either a blue-green or bright green color. Like most columnar cacti, there is a considerable difference between smaller seedling plants and the larger mature plants. Often smaller plants will be heavily armed with spines which are reduced or even absent on older stems. A few exhibit a pseudocephalium - that is an area of extremely dense spines, which gives rise to the flowers. They do well in raised beds, rockeries and large pots. Pachycereus marginatus, previously known as Stenocereus marginatus is a very neat, straight up and down columnar cactus that sometimes forms branches. It has small spines along linear rows up and down the plant. It is native to Central Mexico but cultivated in warm locations all over the world. Some of its common names include Mexican Organ Pipe Cactus, Organ Pipe, Organo and Jarritos. |