The wildflowers of the Sonoran Desert typically appear after a rain, some after the winter rains, and some after the summer "monsoons."
The Sonoran Desert is a hot desert in North America and ecoregion that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the southwestern United States. It is the hottest desert in both Mexico and the United States. It has an area of 260,000 square kilometers (100,000 sq mi).
Eriophyllum lanosum, the white woolly daisy or white easterbonnets, is a spring wildflower in the family Asteraceae. It grows in the eastern Mojave Desert and the Sonoran Desert in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico.
Calliandra eriophylla, commonly known as fairy duster, is a low spreading shrub which is native to deserts and arid grasslands in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico.
Penstemon parryi, the Parry's penstemon, Parry's beardtongue or desert penstemon, is a wildflower native to the Sonoran Desert of Southern Arizona and northern Mexico. It is a perennial that blooms in March and April. In the wild, plants flower in their second year. In cultivation, flowering is often achieved in the first year if seed is planted in the autumn.
Geraea canescens, commonly known as desert sunflower, hairy desert sunflower, or desert gold, is an annual plant in the family Asteraceae. The genus name comes from the Greek geraios, referring to the white hairs on the fruits.
Machaeranthera is a genus of North American flowering plants in the family Asteraceae which are known by the common name tansyaster.
Baccharis sarothroides is a North American species of flowering shrub known by the common names broom baccharis, desertbroom, greasewood, rosin-bush and groundsel in English and "escoba amarga" or "romerillo" in Spanish. This is a spreading, woody shrub usually sticky with glandular secretions along the primarily leafless green stems. The small, thick leaves are a few centimeters long and are absent much of the year, giving the shrub a spindly, twiggy appearance. It flowers abundantly with tiny green blooms on separate male and female plants.
Johnstonella angustifolia is a species of wildflower in the borage family known by several common names, including Panamint catseye and bristlelobe cryptantha. This plant is native to northern Mexico and the southwestern United States from California to Texas, where it grows in desert scrub and woodland.
Condea emoryi, the desert lavender, is a large, multi-stemmed shrub species of flowering plant in Lamiaceae, the mint family.
Hibiscus denudatus is a perennial shrub of the mallow family, Malvaceae. It is in the rosemallow genus, Hibiscus.
Peniocereus greggii is a cactus species native to Arizona, New Mexico, Texas (USA); and Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Sonora, and Zacatecas (Mexico). Common names include Arizona queen of the night, nightblooming cereus and Reina de la noche. The species name greggii honors Josiah Gregg, a merchant, explorer, naturalist, and author of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico.
Baccharis sergiloides is a species of Baccharis known by the common name desert baccharis.
Rafinesquia neomexicana is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Common names include desert chicory, plumeseed, or New Mexico plumeseed. It has white showy flowers, milky sap, and weak, zigzag stems, that may grow up through other shrubs for support. It is an annual plant found in dry climate areas of the southwestern deserts of the US and northwestern deserts of Mexico.
Flora of the Sonoran Desert includes six subdivisions based on vegetation types. Two are north of the boundary between the United States and Mexico, and four are south of the boundary. The flora of the Colorado Desert are influenced by the environment of the very dry and hot lower areas of the Colorado River valley, which may be barren, treeless, and generally have no large cacti. Flora of the Arizona Upland are comparatively lush, with trees and large columnar cacti that can withstand winter frosts. Those subdivisions of the Sonoran Desert which lie south of the international border are characterized by plants that cannot withstand frost.
Flora of the Arizona Upland includes higher elevation Sonora Desert plants that require more moisture and cooler climates than those of the adjacent Sonoran Desert areas in the Colorado Desert of the lower Colorado River valley area, and which can withstand frost, unlike plants of the Sonoran Desert south of the border between the United States and Mexico.
Eriogonum abertianum, with the common names Abert's buckwheat and Abert wild buckwheat, is a species of flowering plant in the family Polygonaceae.
Melampodium leucanthum, the plains blackfoot or blackfoot daisy, is an herbaceous perennial plant in the family Asteraceae found on rocky slopes in the southwest U.S. It is an attractive ornamental, blooming from March to November.
Justicia longii, the longflower tube tongue, is an herbaceous perennial subshrub in the family Acanthaceae found in the Arizona Upland of the Sonoran Desert. Each of its white flowers blooms in the evening and lasts only a single night. The next morning the corollas fall, littering the ground with a white carpet. It has a long bloom season from April to October.