Flora

What grows out here — slow, stubborn, and built for drought.

subtitle = binomial (scientific name)

Trees & Tall Woody

Joshua tree

Yucca brevifolia

Hero species on the parcel; a protected native — clearing it without a permit is illegal. Slow giant yucca that defines the high Mojave.

Juniper

Juniperus sp.

High-desert "lush" character at ~3,050 ft. Rot-resistant firewood; berries season game and brew to tea.

Ocotillo

Fouquieria splendens

Whip-like canes that leaf out after rain. Cut canes root into a living thorn fence.

Catclaw acacia

Senegalia greggii

Wash tree armed with hooked "wait-a-minute" thorns. Major bee plant; burns well.

Honey mesquite

Prosopis glandulosa

Deep-rooted legume of washes. Edible pods, nitrogen-fixer, top firewood — plant deliberately.

Screwbean mesquite

Prosopis pubescens

Smaller mesquite with coiled pods. Same wash habitat, same homestead value.

Desert willow

Chilopsis linearis

Not a true willow; pink trumpet flowers along washes. Fast shade and pollinator magnet.

Shrubs

Creosote bush

Larrea tridentata

The defining flat shrub — resinous, smells like rain. Clonal, near-immortal, allelopathic (little grows beneath it).

White bursage

Ambrosia dumosa

Low gray companion to creosote. Drops leaves in drought to survive.

Blackbrush

Coleogyne ramosissima

The dark dense shrub marking this exact elevation band. Forms vast even stands on the bajada.

Big sagebrush

Artemisia tridentata

Silver aromatic Great Basin shrub creeping in at altitude. The smell of cold high desert.

Fourwing saltbush

Atriplex canescens

Tough gray browse with papery winged seeds. Good forage; holds disturbed soil.

Shadscale

Atriplex confertifolia

Spiny salt-tolerant low saltbush. Survives the worst alkaline, compacted ground.

Mormon tea

Ephedra nevadensis

Leafless jointed green broom-stems. Brews to a mild tea; classic survival plant.

Brittlebush

Encelia farinosa

Mounded gray shrub that erupts in yellow daisies after rain. Resin used as incense.

Anderson's wolfberry

Lycium andersonii

Thorny shrub with small red edible berries (desert "tomatillo"). Quail and you both eat them.

Spiny hopsage

Grayia spinosa

Spiny shrub with showy pink-red papery fruits in spring. Brief springtime browse.

Winterfat

Krascheninnikovia lanata

Soft white woolly shrub; premier cold-season forage. A sign of decent range.

Rubber rabbitbrush

Ericameria nauseosa

Gray-green shrub blanketed in mustard-yellow bloom in fall. Late nectar after everything else quits.

Apache plume

Fallugia paradoxa

White rose-like flowers, then feathery pink seed plumes. Good wash-bank stabilizer.

Cheesebush

Ambrosia salsola

Brittle green broom-shrub of washes; smells of cheese when crushed. Pioneer on disturbed ground.

Desert almond

Prunus fasciculata

Spiny wild almond relative; fruit bitter and cyanogenic — not for eating. Browse and cover only.

Yucca, Agave & Succulents

Mojave yucca

Yucca schidigera

Stout dagger-leaved yucca with shaggy edge fibers. Fruit, fiber, and soap-root use; tougher cousin of the Joshua.

Banana yucca

Yucca baccata

Blue-green yucca with thick edible banana-shaped fruit. Leaves were a fiber and food staple.

Utah agave

Agave utahensis

Compact spine-tipped rosette on rocky slopes. Roasted heart was a traditional food; flowers once, then dies.

Bigelow's nolina (beargrass)

Nolina bigelovii

Fountain of grass-like leaves from a woody base. Looks like a yucca, isn't; tough ornamental.

Cacti

Silver cholla

Cylindropuntia echinocarpa

Dense cholla, straw spines that glow backlit. Joints detach and hitch rides — the "jumping" reputation.

Buckhorn cholla

Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa

Taller branchy cholla with antler-like arms. Spring flowers yellow to red.

Diamond cholla

Cylindropuntia ramosissima

Slim pencil-stemmed cholla, diamond-patterned skin. Easy to miss until you back into it.

Beavertail prickly pear

Opuntia basilaris

Flat blue-gray pads, nearly spineless but loaded with irritating glochids. Brilliant magenta flowers; fruit edible.

Engelmann prickly pear

Opuntia engelmannii

Big classic spiny prickly pear. Red fruit (tunas) and pads both usable once de-spined.

Mojave kingcup hedgehog

Echinocereus engelmannii

Clustered spiny cylinders, vivid magenta cups in spring. Sweet edible fruit ("strawberry cactus").

Cottontop cactus

Echinocactus polycephalus

Clumping barrel with a woolly white crown. Slow, ancient, drought-armored.

Fishhook cactus

Mammillaria tetrancistra

Small solitary cactus with hooked central spines. Hides in rock; easy to step on.

Grasses

Big galleta

Pleuraphis rigida

Dominant native bunchgrass of the flats. Coarse but decent forage green.

Indian ricegrass

Achnatherum hymenoides

Airy fine-seeded native bunchgrass. Edible nutritious seed — a regeneration-planting priority.

Bush muhly

Muhlenbergia porteri

Wiry fine bunchgrass that hides up inside shrubs. Excellent forage where grazing spares it.

Desert needlegrass

Stipa speciosa

Bunchgrass with sharp awned seeds. Good cover; seeds work into socks and fur.

Wildflowers & Annuals — rain-dependent

Desert marigold

Baileya multiradiata

Long-blooming yellow daisy on woolly stems. Toxic to sheep and goats — flag it if you add browsing stock.

Apricot globemallow

Sphaeralcea ambigua

Orange-apricot cups on gray-green stalks. Tough perennial, long bloom, fair forage.

Mojave aster

Xylorhiza tortifolia

Big lavender daisy on a low mound. Spring showpiece of rocky ground.

Sand verbena

Abronia villosa

Sprawling annual, fragrant pink-purple clusters. Carpets sandy flats in a good wet spring.

Chia

Salvia columbariae

Blue-flowered annual with stacked round whorls. Edible seed; a desert staple.

Sacred datura

Datura wrightii

White dusk-opening trumpets, sprawling gray leaves. Every part highly toxic — keep from livestock and people.

Invasive & Nuisance

Red brome

Bromus rubens

Invasive annual grass that cures to fine fuel. Primary wildfire ladder in the Mojave.

Cheatgrass

Bromus tectorum

Invasive annual grass, same fire problem. Green early, tinder by May.

Mediterranean grass

Schismus barbatus

Tiny invasive annual filling bare ground between shrubs. Cumulative fuel load.

Sahara mustard

Brassica tournefortii

Aggressive invasive that smothers native wildflowers. Pull green before it seeds.

Russian thistle (tumbleweed)

Salsola tragus

The classic tumbleweed; piles on fences, clogs equipment. Fire hazard and seed-spreader.

Puncturevine (goathead)

Tribulus terrestris

Low mat with spined seeds that flatten tires and feet. Eradicate on sight near drive and structures.

Tamarisk (salt cedar)

Tamarix ramosissima

Feathery invasive that hijacks washes, drinks enormous water, salts soil against natives. Remove from any drainage.