Have you been to the Sonoran Desert?
In the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona there is a path that shows different Habitats of the Sonoran Desert.
Let me take you on a 1.3 mile loop that highlights each of these habitats.
Desert Habitat
Mesquite Bosque
Desert Oasis
Semi Desert Grassland
Chapparal
Desert Habitat
When most people think of the desert this is what they envision. Lots of cactus... and in the Sonoran Desert that would include the stately Saguaro!
Elevation: 260-3000 feet (85-980 meters)
Annual Rainfall: Less than 10 inches (25.4 cm)
Key plants:
Saguaro
Prickly Pear
Cholla
Palo Verde
Iron Wood
Creosote
Ocotillo
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|---|---|---|
| Saguaro | Prickly Pear | Cholla |
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|---|---|---|
| Palo Verde Tree-in bloom | Iron Wood tree | Creostoe Bush |
Ocotillo
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This is the habitat I know best and feel most comfortable in now that I have lived in the desert for 15 years. At first it seems a bit sparse and hostile. It is really quite lovely and full of life and variety.
Mesquite Bosque
Mesquite trees are quite beautiful. For so long I thought the desert was just cactus. I have learned that Ironwood, Mesquite and Palo Verde also thrive in the desert and have a very important function for the people and animals of the desert.
Elevation: Sea Level- 1500 feet (457 meters)
In the hot summers these dense grouping of mesquite trees provide much needed shade.
The mesquite tree also provided:
food from the pods, cords from the roots, dye from the pitch and building structures from the hard wood.
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Desert Oasis
There is water in the desert and here we see the some of the lift that grows around the oasis in the desert.
Yerba Mansa- white flower- bottom right and set below
Western Cottonwood tree- top right
Arrow weed- Set below
Southern Cattail- middle
Yerba Mansa
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Arrow weed
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Semi Desert Grassland
This is one of the pretties parts of the trail and desert to me.
Elevation: 3600-5600 feet (1097-1700 meters)
Annual Rainfall: 10-18 inches (25.4-45.7 cm)
In addition the the grasses you can find shrubs, succulents and a few trees in the grasslands.
Chapparal
According to Merriam dictionary Chapparal means
a dense impenetrable thicket of shrubs or dwarf trees 1
It is also a synonym for bosque which we saw with the mesquite trees earlier and is Spanish in origin.
Elevation: 3400-6100 feet (1036-1860 meters)
Annual Rainfall: 15-25 inches (38.1-63.5 cm)
Key Plants:
Agave
Mexican Manzanita
One Seed Juniper
Desert Spoon
Banana Yucca
Agave and Desert Spoon
For those that know me agave is my current obsession. Here is an agave in bloom. The agave flower once in there life time sending up a stalk that is sometimes up to 25 feet tall (7.63 meters). 2
Desert Spoon is to the right of the agave and is a yucca plant and flowers once every few years and is native to the Sonoran Desert. 3
One Seed Juniper tree
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Close up of Mexican Manzanita Tree
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Cool lizard that posed on the is rock for me.
I have walked on this trail many times and this is the first time I really understand some of the differences of the desert and the vegetation.
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