The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Stenocereus thurberi
Also called Organ Pipe Cactus, Mexican Organ Pipe
Stenocereus thurberi is a tall columnar cactus from the Sonoran Desert, growing several narrow vertical stems from a single base that can reach 5 to 8 m. Grow it in full sun in very well-drained soil, and shade young seedlings under a nurse plant for several years.
Stenocereus thurberi, the organ pipe cactus, is a species of cactus native to Mexico and the United States. The species is found in rocky desert. Two subspecies are recognized based on their distribution and height. The Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is named for the species. Cacti are minimally adapted to particular thermal niches, and are tremendously vulnerable to seasonal precipitation.
This species is found mostly in Mexico, mainly in Sonora and southern Baja California and Northern Sinaloa. It is also known to the United States, but is much rarer, with the notable exception of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. The plant is predominantly found on rocky hillsides up to 900 m (3,000 ft) in elevation. It is sensitive to frost, so the species is rare in low desert areas, which can be more susceptible to frost. The plant is slow growing, and prefers well-drained soil and full sun. However, when in the seedling stage, it requires shade, and will grow beneath a "nurse tree". It will need this for several years until it grows an adequate root system, which is mostly in the upper 10 cm of soil.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Stenocereus thurberi by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
