National Geographic Magazine, January 1924 From the article "Fantastic Plants of Our Western Deserts"
Cactus and Succulent Society of America, 1929
Crested Saguaro on Journal Front page Cactus and Succulent Society of America, Vol. 1, No. 1, July 1929
Lantern Slide, 1920s or 1930s Same saguaro as shown in postcard below.
Postcard, circa 1930s Captioned "TWO SPECIES OF GIANT CACTUS" but actually non-crested and crested specimens of the same species.
Saguaro National Monument, 1941 (photo by Ansel Adams) Photo commissioned by the National Park Service for a never-installed photo mural in the Department of the Interior Building in Washington DC.
Saguaro National Monument, 1941 (photo by Ansel Adams) Photo commissioned by the National Park Service for a never-installed photo mural in the Department of the Interior Building in Washington DC.
The Desert Magazine, May 1941 (photo by Harlow Jones) From the article 'Desert Roses' in Arizona by John W. Hilton: "As we neared the hills the giant cacti became larger and more abundant. On one of them we saw a fine crest. These crested Saguaro are rare indeed and scientists who are interested in this form of growth have catalogued all they have found in Arizona. No one knows for sure why a normal cactus suddenly begins throwing out this strange crest-like growth at the top. It is evident there is some disturbance of the cell structure, but laboratory study of the 'fan' has failed to disclose any evidence of disease or cancer. The fact remains that they are exceedingly rare among the Saguaro — and the chance of finding such a crest is about one in a million."
Arizona Highways, January 1942 (photo by Marvin "Pop" Frost, Sr.) From the article The Wilderness of Unreality by Natt N. Dodge: "One of the famous crested saguaro on the monument [now Saguaro National Park, Rincon Mountain District], locally known as the 'Candelabrum,' appealed strongly to Pop's sense of the dramatic, and he photographed it at night from a number of different angles. His attachment for this particular tree has never weakened and he has taken numerous pictures of it over a period of two years."
Arizona Highways, October 1950 (photo by Josef Muench) From the article In The Land of The Desert Giants by Joyce Rockwell Muench: "While not many diseases or pests attack the Saguaro, an injury to the circular cell group at the apex sometimes produces the crested or 'cristate' forms. Weird and interesting, they are actually a sort of cancerous growth where the cell grows too rapidly and may be caused by bacteria or perhaps the stab of a bird's bill."
