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The saguaro, a huge, water-bearing cactus, provides shelter and food for a wide variety of animals in the Sonoran Desert. ARMS store water, produce energy for the plant and provide space for flowers on their tips. BATS, insects (especially MOTHS), and the WHITE-WINGED DOVE are primary pollinators of saguaro flowers, delighting in the nectar and pollen. SPINES protect the cactus from animals that want to eat it in addition to insulating the stem and arm tips from extreme temperatures. FLOWERS bloom May to June, producing pollen for reproduction before developing as fruit. They require cross-pollination. They are open during the cool desert night and close midday. Saguaros are noted for commensalism, when a plant benefits from a close relationship with another unaffected plant, called their nurse plant. The nurse plant provides shade and moist habitat for the saguaro when it is first growing. CREOSOTE are an example of a less common nurse plant for saguaros. ©2013 Michaela Brumbaugh Photograph and Illustrations by Michaela Brumbaugh Sources: Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Desert USA, National Park Service PLEATS allow the cactus to swell and shrink as its water intake changes. FRUIT can produce up to 4000 seeds which contribute to population growth, animals eat them and spread the seeds enveloped within. When fruit falls to the ground, ants, packrats, and kangaroo rats eat the seeds. Desert tortoises, coyotes, javelina, and mule deer eat the fruit. Lizards, Gila woodpeckers, gilded flickers and other species car holes for nests in the arms, called SAGUARO BOOTS. The STEM, or “trunk” of a saguaro, stores water, provides support, and creates energy. ROOTS take in water and minerals while grounding the cactus with a radial tap root.