The record-breaking heat wave scorching Arizona is also scorching the state’s famous saguaro cacti. This comes as temperatures have soared above 110 degrees Fahrenheit for 28 days straight. It’s so hot out, not even the cactuses are surviving.
“Everyone looks at cactus and say, ‘Oh, these are desert plants, so they should be just fine.’ But cactus are living things,” said Kimberlie McCue of the Desert Botanical Garden.
But unlike people, they can’t get out of the heat or the sun. McCue said this record-breaking stretch of record-breaking heat is breaking the cactus all over the state. “They literally can’t function, and the way I describe it is they start to suffocate,” she said.
As NBC affiliate WMTV in Phoenix reports, a saguaro uses photosynthesis like all plants do, but they do half of it at night when it’s supposed to be cooler. But this month, it’s barely ever dropped below 90 overnight.
When the cactus is supposed to be recovering, they’re really roasting. “That’s the same thing for cactus at a certain temperature for a certain length of time. They just can’t do it anymore,” McCue said.
A saguaro that’s in pretty good shape is standing straight. If it was soft or squishy, that means the cactus is in bad shape. It probably can’t hold itself up anymore. “If it started to tilt, bad sign,” McCue said. That probably means it’s on its way to falling over.
And another warning sign that some Arizonans have probably seen in their own yards, “sun scorch, so you start to see yellowing,” McCue said.
And not just saguaros – that’s happening to pretty much all cactus. McCue said the garden can try to throw some shade cloth over them, but these things can be 20 to 30 feet tall.
They’re pretty much on their own, and once they’re in bad shape, that’s pretty much it. “If that plant is really starting to shut down, doesn’t matter how much water you pour on them, they won’t be able to take it up and do anything with it,” McCue said.
The heat can’t stay around forever. Eventually it has to cool down. But for now, even the symbol of the state is struggling to make it through.
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Photo Credit: Michael Andrew Just / Shutterstock.com