Prickly

A very large organ pipe cactus in Baja California, photo by Leon Diguet (1895).

Special techniques are needed to survive in hostile environments:

A symbiotic relationship with bacterial and fungal colonies on its roots allows P. pringlei to grow on bare rock even where no soil is available at all, as the bacteria can fix nitrogen from the air and break down the rock to produce nutrients. The cactus even packages symbiotic bacteria in with its seeds.