A Saguaro Can Weigh 80 Pounds for Every Foot of Its Trunk

A saguaro is a water tank with spines. The U.S. National Park Service explains that because the majority of a saguaro is made up of water, a large plant may weigh 80 pounds for each foot of its main trunk. Storing that water takes clever engineering. During a heavy rain, a saguaro absorbs as much water as its roots allow, and the pleats on its surface expand like an accordion to make room. When the desert is dry, the plant uses its stored water and the pleats contract. The roots help, growing out from the plant in all directions only a few inches below the ground. All that weight is held up by a circular skeleton of interconnected woody ribs, one for each pleat on the outside. People have used those ribs too, as framework for building walls and as poles for picking saguaro fruit.