old-man cactus

[ ohld-man ]

noun

1. a Mexican cactus, Cephalocereus senilis, having a columnar body from 30 to 40 feet (9 to 12 meters) high with thatchlike, long, white hairs on the top, and red flowers with white centers.

Word History and Origins

Origin of old-man cactus¹

An Americanism dating back to 1895–1900

Example Sentences

Cephalocereus senilis, known as old-man cactus for its long, downy white spines, can be seen in a photograph of Kahlo in her garden taken in 1951 by the French photojournalist Gisèle Freund.

From New York Times

To this character, the plant owes it name Old-Man Cactus; but, by a curious inversion of what obtains in the human kind, old plants are less conspicuous by their white hairs than the younger ones.

From Project Gutenberg