Saguaro closeup

[ellarien]

DSC05353b
Originally uploaded by ellarien.

We're having a spell of unseasonable warmth, hot enough to frazzle the cholla and prickly pear flowers almost as soon as they open; they're not really built for this. This saguaro flower is a single-day phenomenon anyway, and past its best by noon, but still quite handsome. Those lavish stamens are for pollination by long-nosed bats.