Desert Region
Desert plants have it tough. They bake in the summer, freeze in the winter, and have to bear months without rain. There is a great diversity of plants in the desert region. Most desert plants have roots that reach deep to get every drop of water they can. After rains, cactus swell like accordions, soaking enough water to see them through in drier days.
The Prickly Pear Cactus, is a cactus species found in southwest United States. It occurs in the Mojave Desert. A single plant may consist of hundreds of fleshy, flattened pads. These are more or less blue-gray, depending on variety. They are typically spineless, but have instead many small barbed bristles, called glochids, that easily penetrate the skin.
This is the Joshua Tree. Joshua Tree National Park is located in southeastern California. It is named for the Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) forests native to the park. Straddling the San Bernardino County/Riverside County border, the park includes parts of two deserts, the higher Mojave Desert and lower Colorado Desert. The Little San Bernardino Mountains run through the southwest edge of the park.
This is the Smoke Tree. It is often hard to tell whether a smoke tree is dead or alive. With a crown of gray branches and twigs with dense hairs, a smoke tree can look like smoke from a distance. Leaves appear on the tree for a few short weeks in the spring before the smoke tree blooms with purple flowers, usually in May and June.
Even the seeds of desert plants have protective coatings to keep them from sprouting until there is enough rain to grow.
This is the Ocotillo. An ocotillo can look lifeless most of the year. But within days of rain it will come alive and leaf-out with small leaves above its spines. If it dries out again, the ocotillo sheds its leaves. This cycle may repeat several times. The ocotillo blooms from March through June with red flowers at the ends of branches, even when there are no leaves on the plant.