barrel cactus

noun

1. any of several large, cylindrical, ribbed, spiny cacti of the genera Echinocactus and Ferocactus.

Word History and Origins

Origin of barrel cactus¹

An Americanism dating back to 1880–85

Example Sentences

The straight spines found on cactuses like the saguaro are the easiest to pull free, while barbed cholla spears or hooked spines like those found on barrel cactuses will—not surprisingly—take a little more work.

From Popular-Science

I was floored to see flowering ocotillo bushes, waving like serrated knives with ruby-encrusted handles over bunches of barrel cacti springing up from the sand like little mittens for fat fingers.

From Outside Online

A set of steep, scree-strewn switchbacks ejects us onto the Tonto Platform, a sloping shelf of sage-hued shale festooned with prickly pear and barrel cactus, blackbrush and spindly yucca.

From Washington Post

Near by springs up the Barrel cactus, a forbidding column no one dares touch.

From Project Gutenberg

The Candy Barrel Cactus is a very fine plant which grows as high as seven feet and has twenty to thirty ridges running lengthwise.

From Project Gutenberg

The boys got out and walked quickly into the desert, found a barrel cactus, and began dissecting it with Rick's scout knife.

From Project Gutenberg

She knew that the pulp of the barrel cactus that she tried to chew turned to bitter sawdust in her mouth and sickened her.

From Project Gutenberg

Another of picturesque appeal is the bisnaga or barrel cactus, of which there are many species of many sizes.

From Project Gutenberg