Taxon Report

Carnegiea gigantea (Engelm.) Britt. & Rose

saguaro

Print Report

Classification


Scientific Name:	Carnegiea gigantea (Engelm.) Britt. & Rose
Common Name:	saguaro
Family:	Cactaceae
Element Code:	PDCAC12010
USDA Plants Symbol:	CAGI10
Synonyms/Other Names:	Cereus giganteus Engelm.

Ecology and Life History


Lifeform:	perennial stem
Blooming Period: May-Jun	May-Jun
Elevation:	50-1500 (165-4920)
General Habitats:	Sonoran desert scrub
Microhabitat:
Microhabitat Details:

Conservation Status


CA Rare Plant Rank:	2B.2
Global Rank:	G5
State Rank:	S1
State List:	None
Fed List:	None
Other Status:	IUCN_LC; SB_CalBG/RSABG
CRPR Changes:	changed from 2.2 to 2B.2 on 2013-06-12

Occurrence Data from the CNDDB


Total Occurrences:	30
Element Occurrence Ranks:
Excellent (A)	4
Good (B)	9
Fair (C)	1
Poor (D)	1
None (X)	0
Unknown (U)	15

Location


California Endemic: False
California Counties and Islands: Name (Code)
Imperial (IMP), San Bernardino (SBD)
Quads: Name (Quad Code)
Buzzards Peak (3311427), Gene Wash (3411432), Laguna Dam (3211474), Mt. Barrow (3311428), Palo Verde Peak (3311437), Picacho NW (3311426), Thumb Peak (3311447), Whipple Mts. SW (3411434), Whipple Wash (3411433)

Threat List Data from the CNDDB


Threat List Total:	8
EOs with Threat Listed:	Total EOs	% of EOs
	9	30 %
Road/trail construction/maint.	4	13%
Recreational use (non-ORV)	3	10%
ORV activity	2	6%
Altered flood/tidal/hydrologic regime	2	6%
Erosion/runoff	2	6%
Non-native animal impacts	1	3%
Development	1	3%
Vandalism/dumping/litter	1	3%

Notes



Need precise locality information for quad 75 in RIV Co. Possibly threatened by vehicles and recreational shooting. State flower of AZ, where state-listed as Highly Safeguarded. See Journal of the New York Botanical Garden 9:188 (1908) for revised nomenclature.
Threats:

Taxonomy:

Selected References

Citation California Native Plant Society, Rare Plant Program. 2025. Rare Plant Inventory (online edition, v9.5.1). Website https://www.rareplants.cnps.org [accessed 4 January 2025].