Pholisma sonorae, commonly known as sandfood, is a rare and unusual species of flowering plant endemic to the Sonoran Deserts to the west of Yuma, Arizona in the California Yuha, Mojave Desert and Colorado Desert, and south in the Yuma Desert, where it is known from only a few locations.
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.
Lennooideae is a subfamily of parasitic flowering plants of southwestern North America and northwestern South America.
Lycium andersonii is a species of flowering plant in the nightshade family, Solanaceae. Its common names include water-jacket, redberry desert-thorn, Anderson thornbush, Anderson's desert thorn, Anderson boxthorn, Anderson lycium, Anderson wolfberry, and squawberry.
Gilia cana is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name showy gilia. It is native to California and Nevada where it grows in open areas with gravelly and sandy soils, such as desert and rocky slopes. The Mojave Desert range of some subspecies may extend into Arizona.
Astragalus jaegerianus is a rare species of milkvetch known by the common name Lane Mountain milkvetch. The plant was named for the biologist Edmund Jaeger, who first documented it in 1939.
Astragalus lentiginosus var. pseudiodanthus, synonym Astragalus pseudiodanthus, is a variety of the species Astragalus lentiginosus, a milkvetch. It is known by the common name Tonopah milkvetch. It is native to the Great Basin deserts of Nevada and eastern California, such as the Tonopah area, where it grows in sandy habitat.
Greeneocharis circumscissa is a species of flowering plant in the borage family, known by the common name cushion cryptantha. It is native to western North America from Washington to Baja California to Colorado and it is also found in Argentina. It grows in sandy or gravelly types of habitat, from mountains to desert, below 9,500 m (31,200 ft) above sea level.
Eriogonum deserticola is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common name Colorado Desert buckwheat.
Linanthus maculatus is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common names San Bernardino Mountain gilia and Little San Bernardino Mountains gilia. It is endemic to California, where it is known only from a few locales in the Little San Bernardino Mountains and the adjacent Palm Springs area in the northern end of the Coachella Valley. The largest populations, which may contain thousands of individuals, are located within the bounds of Joshua Tree National Park. This is a very small annual herb no more than three centimeters high. It has a taproot which may exceed 6 centimeters in length to collect moisture from the dry desert sand in its native habitat. The tiny, hairy stem branches to form small matted clusters on the sand surface. The hairy leaves are just a few millimeters long and unlobed. The inflorescence is a dense cluster of flowers each only 2 to 5 millimeters wide. The flower corolla has curled-back lobes which are white, sometimes with a spot of purple or pink. The protruding stamens are yellow. The main threat to this species is development in its range, and it is also vulnerable to off-road vehicle damage in the wide open sandy flats where it grows.
Lupinus brevicaulis is a species of lupine known by the common names shortstem lupine and sand lupine. It is native to the southwestern United States, including Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico, where it grows in many types of sandy habitat.
Oxystylis is a monotypic genus of flowering plants currently considered a part of the cleome family containing the single species Oxystylis lutea, which is known by the common name spiny caper. It is native to the Mojave Desert straddling the border between California and Nevada. It grows in rocky and sandy desert habitat, often on alkaline soils. This is an annual herb producing an erect, branching stem which may reach 1.5 meters in height. The leaf is made up of three thick, firm leaflets 2 to 6 centimeters long, borne on a stout, straight petiole. The inflorescence is a dense head of flowers clustered about the stem at the leaf axils, each flower with four small yellow petals. The fruit is a small white or purple nutlet bearing the spine-like remnant of the flower receptacle.
Bonnie Carolyn Templeton was an American botanist. She served as curator of botany for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County from 1929 to 1970, a time when women in science were uncommon.
Selaginella eremophila is a species of spikemoss known by the common name desert spikemoss. It is native to the deserts and adjacent mountains around the intersection of California and Arizona with Baja California. It grows in sandy and rocky habitat. This lycophyte forms dense mats of spreading stems with small, forking branches. The lance-shaped leaves are up to 3 millimeters long on the lower stem surfaces and a little shorter on the upper sides. The tiny leaves have pointed tips with soft, twisted bristles. The strobili bearing the reproductive parts are under a centimeter long.
Senecio mohavensis, known by the common name Mojave ragwort, is a species of flowering plant in the aster family.
Senna armata is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names spiny senna and desert senna. It is native to the desert regions around the intersection of Nevada, Arizona, eastern California and northern Baja California, where it grows in sandy and rocky habitat, such as arroyos. It is a shrub growing up to a meter tall, its grooved, branching stems often narrowing to thorns at their tips. The spiny branches are coated in tubular hairs which help protect it from hot desert air. The spine-tipped leaves are each made up of two to four pairs of small leaflets. The leaves are ephemeral, dropping soon after emerging, leaving the shrub naked most of the time. Flowers occur singly or in small clusters in leaf axils. They are fragrant and showy, with five petals in shades of yellow to salmon pink, each measuring roughly a centimeter long. The fruit is a legume pod up to 4 centimeters long.
Tripterocalyx micranthus is a species of flowering plant in the four o'clock family known by the common names smallflower sandverbena and small-flowered sand-verbena.
Saltugilia latimeri is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name Latimer's woodland gilia. It is endemic to California, where it is known from several scattered occurrences in the western Mojave Desert and outlying areas to the north. It occurs in dry rocky and sandy desert canyons. It was first described as a species in 2001.
Eremocrinum is a monotypic genus of plants in the subfamily Agavoideae containing the single species Eremocrinum albomarginatum. It is known by the common names Utah solitaire lily, Intermountain false-wheatgrass, desert lily, lonely lily, and sand lily. It is native to the western United States, where it is known from Arizona and Utah.
Peniocereus striatus is a species of cactus known by several common names, including gearstem cactus, cardoncillo, jacamatraca, sacamatraca, and dahlia-rooted cactus. It is endemic to the Sonoran Desert, where it occurs in Baja California, Sinaloa, and Sonora in Mexico and Arizona in the United States.
