Plants Found in Maricopa County, AZ Maricopa County Is Located Within the Sonoran Desert, an Arid Region Covering 120,000 Sq
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Plants found in Maricopa County, AZ Maricopa County is located within the Sonoran Desert, an arid region covering 120,000 sq. miles in southwestern Arizona, southeastern/Baja California, and western half of Sonora, Mexico. Cactus Desert Senna Dalea AZ queen-of-the-night Desert Tobacco Desert Bell Plants Barrel Dyssodia Desert Chicory Buckhorn/Staghorn Cholla Fairy Duster Desert Globemallow Cane Cholla Flat-top Buckwheat Desert Hyacinth Chain Fruit Cholla Fourwing Saltbush Desert Marigold Desert Christmas Cholla Graythorn Desert Mariposa Diamond Cholla Hopbush Desert Phlox Fishhook Barrel Jojoba Desert Rose Mallow Fishhook Pincushion Morman Tea/Ephedra Desert Wishbone Bush Hedgehog Ocotillo Fiddleneck Many-headed Barrel Odora Fleabane Pencil Cholla Range Ratany Herissantia Prickly Pear Seep Willow Lupine Saguaro Shrub Live Oak Mexican Gold Poppy Sprawling Prickly Pear Triangle-leaf Bursage Miniature Wool Star Teddybear Cholla Trixis Mock-pennyroyal Grass Wait-a-minute Bush Popcorn Flower Arizona Cottontop White Bursage Owl Clover Bush Muhly White Ratany Paintbrush Cane Beards Wiry or Hairy Lotus Paleface Delphinium Curly Mesquite Wolfberry Parry Dalea Deer Yellow Menodora Penstemon Galleta Tree Perezia Needle Grama Arizona Ash Phacelia Plains Bristle Arizona Black Walnut Primrose Plains Love Arizona Sycamore Scorpionweed Rothrock Grama Blue Palo Verde Silver Puffs Sideoats Grama Catclaw Acacia Small-flowered Eucrypta Saguaro Cactus in Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area - Cave Creek, AZ Sixweeks Fescue Desert Ironwood Tidytips Tangle Head Desert Willow White Tackstem Wildlife of Maricopa County Parks Three-awn Foothill Palo Verde Wild Heliotrope Tobosa Fremont Cottonwood Other Notes: NON-NATIVE Gooding Willow Agave Bermuda Honey Mesquite Arizona Grape Bromes Juniper Bull Thistle Buffle Velvet Mesquite Cattail Fountain Whitethorn Acacia Desert Mistletoe Johnson NON-NATIVE Desert Trumpet Mediterranean Eucalyptus Devil’s Claw Rabbit-foot Tamarisk Janusia Gracilis Wild Oats Wildflower Mara Gilensis Shrub AZ Bladderpod Phragmites Australis Brittlebush Asters Pretty Dodder Bush Penstemon Barestem Larkspur Pursh Plantain Canyon Ragweed Blue Gila Rambling Milkweed Chuparosa Broad-leaved Gilia Rattlesnake Weed Creosote Bush Broomrape Rock Echeveria Crucifixion-thorn Buckley’s Centaury Sacred Datura Desert Broom Bush Penstemon Skeleton Weed Desert Hackberry Cheeseweed Twining Snapdragon Desert Lavender Chia Yellow Star Thistle Desert Poinsettia Common Monkey Flower Yucca Parks & Recreation Department 602.506.2930 www.maricopa.gov/parks 080408 Buckhorn/Staghorn Cholla Opuntia Desert Broom Baccharis sarothroides acanthocarpa/Opuntia versicolor Two similar Evergreen shrub grows easily in impacted cactus; difficult to tell apart. The fruits soils usually to 6’. Blooms in the fall; following the spring bloom are the easiest female plants follow with seeds dispersed way to differentiate: staghorn are spineless by wind. and buckhorn have long, barbed spines. Jojoba Simmondsia chinensis Evergreen, Cactus, Barrel Ferocactus wislizeni woody shrub can grow to 10’. The male The compass barrel, or fishhook barrel plant blooms pale yellow clusters on a cactus generally grows from 2’ to 4’. separate plant than the female's green single bloom; both bloom in winter and female Cactus, Hedgehog Echinocereus engelmannii follows with an almond-sized seed. Small, many-stemmed and grows to about 1’. Early spring bloomers; prolific cactus Ocotillo Fouquieria splendens Common blossoms showy, bright magenta flowers. Sonoran Desert woody shrub can grow to Cactus, Prickly Pear Opuntia engelmannii 20’. Blooms tubular red flowers in spring; Large, sprawling plant with round pads. a major food for hummingbirds. Blooms large yellow flowers in late spring Triangle-leaf Bursage Ambrosia deltoidea followed with lime-sized red fruit. Small, understory grows to 2’ and can live Cactus, Saguaro Carnegiea gigantea 50 years. Drought-deciduous shrub, easily Signature plant of the Sonoran Desert and mistaken for brittlebush; flowers in spring grows typically to 40’. Largest cactus in the and follows with a bur. U.S.; blooms stiff white flowers in late spring and produces red fruit. Blue Palo Verde Cercidium floridum Tree found throughout most of the Chain Fruit Cholla Opuntia fulgida Sonoran Desert. Many-trunked, deciduous Cactus known also as "jumping cholla," and grows to around 40’. The bluish-green considered a tree cholla that typically grows branches droop with larger leaves. In to 8’. Summer bloomer; small pink flowers, spring, blooms many yellow flowers followed by green fruits that hang from followed by soft seed pods. past season fruits to create hanging "chain." Catclaw Acacia greggii Small tree or Fishhook Pincushion Mammillaria microcarpa deciduous shrub that can grow to 20’ in Cactus usually found under desert shrubs some Sonoran Desert regions. Has small, and generally 6” tall. Blooms a crown of annoying thorns; blooms yellow, brilliant pink flowers in early spring and at bottlebrush-like blooms in late spring. times with summer rains. Teddybear Cholla Opuntia bigelovii Desert Ironwood Olneya tesota Tree can Cactus known for its nasty, pain-inducing grow up to 35’ tall with gray bark, grayish- spines, grows vertically to 5’. In the spring, green leaves and lavender, pea-like flowers. blooms green flowers then spineless fruits. Scientists think this very dense, slow growing tree can live to about 300 years. Brittlebush Encelia farinosa Small, drought- tolerant shrub that typically grows to 3’. Foothill Palo Verde Cercidium microphyllum Common to Sonoran Desert, blooms daisy- Many-trunked, deciduous, small tree grows like yellow flowers in early spring. to around 15-30’. The yellow-green branches are stiff with tiny leaves. In Bush, Creosote Larrea tridentata Evergreen spring, blooms yellow flowers followed by grows to 6’ and most common in Sonoran soft seed pods. Desert. Can live for 2 years without rain. Blooms yellow flowers and follows with a Velvet Mesquite Prosopis velutina fuzzy ball that holds the seeds. Shaggy-barked tree, deciduous; can grow to Canyon Ragweed Ambrosia ambrosioides 55’. Blooms yellow flowers in the spring Shrub found throughout Sonoran Desert followed by flat, sweet seed pods washes and impacted areas. Blooms in early spring and follows with a bur. All illustrations courtesy of Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.