The Cactaceae | Monograph | 1919 -1923 | Landmark Studies

“When struck by lightning or wounded in any other manner during the dry season, it recovers very rapidly by the formation of a heavy callus over the wounded spot. If it is wounded in the rainy season, however, bacterial decay sets in very rapidly and a large plant may be destroyed in less than a week as a result of a small wound. The nests made in them by woodpeckers are always lined by heavy callus and appear to occasion no permanent injury.”