Ethel M Botanical Cactus Garden is a

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

located at the

Ethel M Chocolate Factory The Ethel M Chocolate Factory is a chocolate factory in Henderson, Nevada, founded by Forrest Mars Sr. It produces gourmet chocolate for all of the Ethel M and Ethel's brand chocolates. The factory was named after the mother of Forrest Mars Sr ...

Henderson Henderson may refer to: People *Henderson (surname), description of the surname, and a list of people with the surname *Clan Henderson, a Scottish clan Places Argentina *Henderson, Buenos Aires Australia *Henderson, Western Australia Canada *He ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. The garden, and the factory itself, are open to the public with no admission charge. The garden, like the factory, are named after Ethel G Mars, first wife of

Frank C. Mars Franklin Clarence Mars (; September 24, 1883 – April 8, 1935) was an American business magnate who founded the food company Mars, Incorporated, which mostly makes chocolate candy. Mars' son Forrest Mars Sr., Forrest Edward Mars developed M& ...

and mother of

Forrest Mars Sr. Forrest Edward Mars Sr. (March 21, 1904 – July 1, 1999) was an American billionaire businessman and the driving force of the Mars candy empire. He is best known for introducing Milky Way (1924) and Mars (1932) chocolate candy bars, and M&M's ( ...

The Botanical Cactus Garden also include a "Living Machine", their name for a demonstration waste water treatment facility. Using

bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among ...

algae Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

protozoa Protozoa (singular: protozoan or protozoon; alternative plural: protozoans) are a group of single-celled eukaryotes, either free-living or parasitic, that feed on organic matter such as other microorganisms or organic tissues and debris. Histo ...

snail A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastro ...

s and

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

, the facility recycles 100 percent of the chocolate factory's waste water without the use of any chemicals. The water is recycled for use in providing water for the garden. The ponds from the waste water facility attract many of the birds that inhabit the garden. The garden opened in September 1981. During the mid-1980s, average visitor attendance was 300 to 400 people per day. Throughout the year the Botanical Cactus Garden are host to several community events including the annual cactus garden lighting. The cactus garden holiday lights show is hosted in November and December and is free to the general public.

Collection

The Garden contains more than 350 different

cactus A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek ...

and

succulent In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...

species. Over half are native to the American southwest; the remainder are from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. The collection includes varieties such as: * The giant saguaro ('' Carnegiea gigantea'') * Ocotillo ('' Fouquieria splendens'') * Prickly pears and chollas (''

Opuntia ''Opuntia'', commonly called prickly pear or pear cactus, is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae. Prickly pears are also known as ''tuna'' (fruit), ''sabra'', ''nopal'' (paddle, plural ''nopales'') from the Nahuatl word f ...

''): ** Beavertail Cactus (''

Opuntia basilaris ''Opuntia basilaris'', the beavertail cactus or beavertail pricklypear, is a cactus species found in the southwest United States. It occurs mostly in the Mojave, Anza-Borrego, and Colorado Deserts, as well as in the Colorado Plateau and northwe ...

'') ** Teddy bear cholla (''

Opuntia bigelovii ''Cylindropuntia bigelovii'', the teddy-bear cholla ''(choy-ya''), is a cholla cactus species native to Northwestern Mexico, and to the United States in California, Arizona, and Nevada. Description ''Cylindropuntia bigelovii'' has a soft appe ...

'') * Bishop's Cap Cactus (''

Astrophytum myriostigma ''Astrophytum myriostigma'', the bishop's cap cactus, bishop's hat or bishop's miter cactus, is a species of cactus native to the highlands of northeastern and central Mexico. Synonyms include ''Echinocactus myriostigma'', ''Astrophytum prismati ...

'') * Clumping hedgehogs (''

Echinocereus ''Echinocereus'' is a genus of ribbed, usually small to medium-sized, cylindrical shaped cacti, comprising about 70 species native to the southern United States and Mexico in very sunny, rocky places. Usually the flowers are large and the fruit ...

'') * Compass barrel cactus * Fish hook barrels (''

Echinocactus wislizeni ''Ferocactus wislizeni'', the fishhook barrel cactus, also called Arizona barrel cactus, candy barrel cactus, and Southwestern barrel cactus, is a species of flowering plant in the cactus family Cactaceae, native to northern Mexico and the southe ...

'') * Red barrel cactus (''

Ferocactus pilosus ''Ferocactus pilosus'', also known as Mexican lime cactus (''Biznaga De Lima'') or Mexican fire barrel, is a species of cactus in North America. Distribution The cactus is endemic to the Chihuahuan Desert, located in northeastern Mexico., p. ...

'') * Mesquite (''

Prosopis chilensis ''Prosopis chilensis'' is a species of tree in the genus ''Prosopis'', belonging to the family Fabaceae. It is found in parts of central Chile, southern Peru, Bolivia, and Andean (northwestern) Argentina. Its common names include Chilean mesqui ...

'') *

Twisted acacia ''Vachellia schaffneri'', the twisted acacia or Schaffner's acacia, is a tree native to Mexico and the United States (Texas). Description This is a thorny tree growing up to 25 feet in height. It has alternate, bipinnately compound leaves that ...

* Desert willow ('' Chilopsis linearis'')

Collection

See also