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SAGUARO
National Park
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Glossary

Agave(ah-GAH-vay)Century plant.
Amole (ah-MOH-lay)Spanish name for the agave.
Bisnaga (bees-NAH-gah) Barrel cactus.
Cereus (SEE-re-us) One of several cactuses, mostly erect and columnar with night-blooming flowers.
Chaparral (shap-pah-RAHL) A dense thicker of dwarf oaks or other rough, woody trees or shrubs.
Chihuahua (chee-WAH-wah) A State in Mexico, bordering nearby New Mexico.
Chiricahua (cheery-COW-ah) A national monument in SE Arizona named after an Apache Indian tribe.
Chlorophyl (CLOR-oh-fill) The green coloring matter of plants.
Cholla (CHO-yah) A Spanish word for any of several very spiny cactuses.
Cinquefoil (SINK-foil) A wildflower with a leaf having 5 divisions.
Ephemeral (ef-FEM-er-ahl) Short-lived.
Gneiss (NICE) A rock, banded by recrystallization due to tremendous heat and pressure.
Jojoba (ho-HOH-bah) Deernut, a small tree or shrub of the high desert.
Mescal (mess-KAHL) A small cactus with rounded stems or joints covered with ribbed tubercles.
Mesquite (mess-KEET) A spiny, deep-rooted tree of the Southwest.
Mica (MY-kah) A shiny, semi-transparent mineral which splits easily into thin sheets.
Nogales (no-GAHL-aze) Town on the border between Arizona and Mexico.
Ocotillo (oh-koh-TEE-yoh) A thorny shrub with long whiplike unbranched stems tipped in April-May with bright-red flower clusters.
Opata (oh-PAH-tah) One of a group of Pima Indian tribes in northeastern Sonora, Mexico.
Opuntia (oh-POON-cha) A group of cactuses having jointed stems and branches.
Papago (PAHP-ah-go) Indians of northern Mexico and southern Arizona, related to the Pimas.
Pima (PEA-mah) Indians of northern Mexico and southern Arizona, related to the Papagos.
Rincon (RIN-cone) The mountain range in which are located the higher parts of Saguaro National Monument.
Sacahuista (sah-kah-WEES-tah) Spanish name for beargrass.
Saguaro (sah-WAH-roe) A tall columnar cactus—principal feature of Saguaro National Monument.
Sonoran (So-NOR-ahn) The arid division of the austral (southern) zone including warmer parts of the western United States.
Sotol (SO-tohl) Any yucca-like plant of the genus Dasylirion.
Tanque Verde (TAHN-kay VERH-day) Mountain range, foothills of the Rincons.
Tucson (TOO-sahn) Principal city of southeastern Arizona.
Tumacacori (too-mah-KAH-koh-ree) Old Spanish mission and a national monument near Nogales Ariz.
Yucca (YUK-kuh) A genus of American plants of the lily family such as the Spanish dagger, Spanish bayonet and Joshua-tree.

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Last Modified: Sat, Nov 4 2006 10:00:00 pm PST
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