This list of flora of the Mojave Desert region includes the flora of the Mojave Desert and of the mountains that are encircled by the Mojave Desert. Some of this flora is well above the level of growth of Yucca brevifolia (Joshua Trees), the upper reaches of which defines the outline of the Mojave Desert. Also included are flora of the Little San Bernardino Mountains dividing the Mojave Desert from the Colorado Desert.
The flora are arranged in several sublists with different organizations for the convenience of encyclopedia users with different purposes - alphabetically by scientific name, alphabetically by plant family then by scientific name, by growth pattern (e.g., tree, shrub, perennial, annual, etc.) then alphabetically by scientific name, by flower color (with duplicate entries when flower colors vary for a single species, and alphabetically by common name.
Each entry in the alphabetical list by scientific name is followed by the common name(s) (in bold and in parentheses), plant family, growth form(s), flower color(s), and brief etymology of the components of the scientific name.
A forb or phorb is a herbaceous flowering plant that is not a graminoid. The term is used in biology and in vegetation ecology, especially in relation to grasslands and understory. Typically these are dicots without woody stems.
The Coronado Islands are a group of islands located 13 km (8 mi) off the northwest coast of the Mexican state of Baja California. Battered by the wind and waves, the rocky islands are mostly uninhabited except for a small military detachment and a lighthouse keeper. Despite their barren appearance, they serve as a refuge for seabirds and support a sizable number of plants, including 6 endemic taxa found only on the islands. The waters around the islands support a considerable amount of diverse marine life.
A tumbleweed is a structural part of the above-ground anatomy of a number of species of plants. It is a diaspore that, once mature and dry, detaches from its root or stem and rolls due to the force of the wind. In most such species, the tumbleweed is in effect the entire plant apart from the root system, but in other plants, a hollow fruit or inflorescence might detach instead. Xerophyte tumbleweed species occur most commonly in steppe and arid ecosystems, where frequent wind and the open environment permit rolling without prohibitive obstruction.
Phacelia fremontii is a flowering plant in the family Boraginaceae native to the southwestern United States. In California, its range includes the Mojave Desert, the San Joaquin Valley, the Coast Ranges, and the Sierra Nevada. It was named for John C. Frémont.
A system of plant taxonomy, the Bessey system was published by Charles Bessey in 1915.
The Melchior system, "a reference in all taxonomic courses", is a classification system detailing the taxonomic system of the Angiospermae according to A. Engler's Syllabus der Pflanzenfamilien (1964), also known as "modified or updated" Engler system.
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.
The Madrean Region is a floristic region within the Holarctic Kingdom in North America, as delineated by Armen Takhtajan and Robert F. Thorne. It occupies arid or semiarid areas in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico and is bordered by the Rocky Mountain Floristic Region and North American Atlantic Region of the Holarctic Kingdom in the north and in the east, Caribbean Region of the Neotropical Kingdom in the south.
Hecastocleis is a genus of low thorny shrubs with stiff branches, assigned to the daisy family. At the tip of each of the branches, inflorescences are subtended by oval, thorny, whitish to greenish bracts that enclose several flower heads which each contain only one pinkish bud, opening into a white corolla. It contains but one species, Hecastocleis shockleyi, the only representative of the tribe Hecastocleideae, and of the subfamily Hecastocleidoideae. Its vernacular name is prickleleaf. It is confined to the southwestern United States.
Udea rubigalis, the celery leaftier or greenhouse leaftier, is a member of the family Crambidae. It is found across the Americas. The species was first described by Achille Guenée in 1854.
Dieteria canascens is an annual plant or short lived perennial plant in the family Asteraceae, known by the common names hoary tansyaster and hoary-aster.
Psorothamnus arborescens is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common name Mojave indigo bush.
Schoenocrambe argillacea is a rare species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common names clay reed-mustard, Uinta Basin plainsmustard, and clay thelypody.
Ericameria paniculata is a species of flowering plant in the sunflower family Asteraceae, native to the southwestern United States. It is an evergreen yellow-flowered desert shrub.
The flora of the Colorado Plateau and Canyonlands region is generally characterized by plant adaptations to the arid conditions of the region, and a wide variation of plant communities from wide variations in elevation and soil types. The elevation variation results in temperature variation. Differing soil types are largely due to erosion of different sedimentary layers in the canyons, from the layers at lowest point of canyons of the Colorado River network, to the top layers of the plateau. Exceptions to flora adapted to aridity occur in lowland riparian areas, at springs, and in hanging gardens.