1. These saguaros are called crested or Cristate saguaro

2. These oddities of the plant kingdom are known as crested (or, more formally, Cristate) saguaros

3. Though these Crested saguaros are somewhat rare, over 25 have been found within the boundaries of the park

4. 2 Prickly pear cacti fill the foreground and saguaros cover the distant hills in Arizona's Saguaro National Park.

5. Cristate or “crested” saguaros form when the cells in the growing stem begin to divide outward, rather than in the cir - cular pattern of a normal cactus

6. Cardell, an avid explorer and president of the Southern Arizona Hiking Club, has long been fascinated by the eye-catching, strangely shaped saguaros known as Cristate…

7. These freaks of nature are called crested, or Cristate, saguaros, and can assume many forms, from the exalted ring crest (only 71 are known to exist) to a myriad of wild natural designs