Dominant plant species in Chihuahuan desert scrub in our region include the ever-present creosote bush (Larrea tridentata), tarbush (Florensia cernua), viscid acacia (Acacia neovernicosa), little-leaf sumac (Rhus microphylla), ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens), and many grass species. Much of the Chihuahuan desert has been converted to shrubland from a more grass-dominated landscape.
2015 brief on Phrynosoma cornutum in Sonora and SE Arizona.
Transects were done in desertscrub on limestone to characterize the flora of the westernmost Chihuahuan Desert. Most of the sites (15) were in the Municipios of Agua Prieta and Naco in northeastern Sonora, with single sites near Ascensión, northwestern Chihuahua and east of Douglas in southeastern Arizona. A total of 236 taxa were recorded on transects. Dicot perennial herbs (66 species) were the most numerous life forms, followed by annual herbs (36 species), subshrubs (36 species), and woody shrubs (33 species).
A total of 555 plant collections were made on 20 trips in 2002-2008 to La Calera area in the Sierra Anibácachi, Municipio de Agua Prieta, 11.3 km south of the Arizona border (31°13’59”N 109°37’53”W, elevation range from 1220 m to 1539 m) in northeastern Sonora. Chihuahuan desertscrub on limestone substrates is dominated by creosotebush (Larea divaricata), Chihuahuan whitethorn (Acacia neovernicosa), mariola (Parthenium incanum), and tarbush (Flourensia cernua).
