SENITA - OLD MAN CACTUS (Lophocereus
schottii)
Cacti sometimes show abnormal growth forms, uncharacteristic of the species. The images above and below show abnormal growth of the senita cactus. Instead of the normal form, seen near the top left-hand side of each image, the rest of this plant is spineless and has large triangular tubercles. The images were taken in the grounds of the Sonoran Desert Museum, Tucson, Arizona, but there are two small populations of wild plants like this in the Sonoran Desert of Mexico.
Other cacti also can show grossly distorted growth patterns, known as "monstrose" growth. Examples on other pages of this site include monstrose growth of the two giant columnar cacti, saguaro and cardon. Go
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