Cactus: Up Close and Personal

You can reach out and touch it, and yes, the spines are sharp. This is a close-up of  a rib of a saguaro cactus so you can see the areole much better.  The areole is the cushion that produces spines and sometimes flowers.  In this photo, you can see the central spine coming directly out from the areole, along with radial spines protruding from the cushion. Cacti do look like they come from another planet.  

While growing up in the Arizona desert, I have been stuck by many, many cactus needles.  Sometimes the spines are long and hard; other times they are tiny, fiber-like spines. Some spines are actually called fishhook spines, and they are really shaped like fishhooks so that you do not want to pull them straight out.  Jumping cholla was the regular culprit for most of my trouble.  Sometimes when I was young, I would walk barefoot on desert paths and in my yard, so it is no wonder that I would get stuck.

The long, hard spines, like the one in the photo, are easy to find and pull out with tweezers.  The micro fiber spines, such as from the pads of prickly pears, however, are actually very hard to see and difficult to pull out of your skin. Sometimes they stay in my skin for days and are rather annoying. My methods to remove cactus spines have included tweezers, scissors, knives, and tape.  You really should wear leather gloves when moving or planting cactus.