In parts of Arizona and New Mexico and the country of Mexico, the deserts are extremely dry. The surface of the ground may have a few spiny cacti but is mainly covered with rocks that become very hot in the sun.
Among the cacti are the towering saguaros. They have bare and heavily ribbed green trunks and branches, some as high as sixty feet. No two of them look alike. One may look like a huge totem pole with no branches, and another may have just one branch almost as tall as its trunk. Usually there will be twin branches on opposite sides, branching out about five or ten feet above the ground and forming a big “U,” almost touching the sides of the trunk. In some areas there may be just a few saguaros, and in other places great numbers of them grow, each with its own shape.
Saguaros have no thorns, leaves or bark, but the trunk and branches have a dozen or more thick, deep, vertical ribs. For a short time each year, pretty white flowers bloom that produce fruit which can be eaten.
With the sun beating down on them so fiercely day after day and with hardly any rain, how do saguaros manage to grow and stay alive? The answer is that the Creator has designed them in a very special way. At certain seasons heavy rains soak the ground in which they grow. For the saguaros to benefit from these rains, their roots are just a few inches beneath the surface and spread over a wide area in a great mass of small roots and fibers, unlike most trees that send roots down deep. These shallow roots are able to quickly absorb water coming their way, which is then drawn up into the trunk and branches to be stored in the thick ribs for future use. Saguaros benefit from even light rain or dew, because the Creator has arranged for the mass of small roots and fibers to grow so near the surface.
Some birds make nests by boring holes in the fleshy trunks. When this happens, a waxy coating covers the exposed edges, preventing evaporation of any of its valuable water. This waxy coating dries so quickly that it doesn’t seem to bother the birds.
The opening Bible verse says that the whole earth is filled with the Creator’s glory. When we realize that all things have been made by Him, we can see that these amazing desert plants were specially designed by Him. How good to think of His wonders in all created things and to agree with the psalmist who wrote, “I will praise Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will show forth all Thy marvelous works” (Psalm 9:11<<To the chief Musician upon Muthlabben, A Psalm of David.>> I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will show forth all thy marvellous works. (Psalm 9:1)).
ML-11/06/2005