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Range: central Arizona to western Texas; south to northern Mexico. Habitat: hills and flats in arid grassland and deserts.

Palo verde is Spanish for "green tree", and even when leafless, the trees are conspicuously green in the brown desert. Photosynthesis occurs mostly in the bark, rather than the leaves — a mechanism for conserving water through a reduction in surface area.

This plant grows in deserts, but more frequently on gravelly slopes. This plant's bark is yellow-green, and it has 4-8 pairs of leaflets on each leaf. This plant has pale yellow flowers, the uppermost petal often whitish.

One of the most handsome shrubs of the western foothills; commonly used as an ornamental. In spring, the entire plant is covered with bright rose-pink flowers; the dense foliage is dark green in summer, reddish in the fall. Indians made baskets from the shredded bark, and extracts from the bark were used medicinally.

This handsome ornamental plant, native to Europe, has proven to be a pesky shrub, invading many areas that were once open prairies and sparse woods.

Range: in nearly all the high western mountains except the Sierra Nevada. Additional info: the genus name, from the Latin campana (which means "bell"), means "little bell". The name harebell may allude to an association with witches, who were believed to be able to transform themselves into hares, portents of bad luck when they crossed a person's path. In Scotland, another old name for this plant was "Witches' Thimble".

Range: eastern Washington to west-central Nevada and northern Arizona; east to northern New Mexico, western Colorado, western South Dakota, and western Montana. Additional info: this cactus is fairly popular with collectors. Other species of the genus are rare.

Range: western Arizona to southern Oklahoma; south to northern Mexico. Additional info: this plant has the most slender stems of all southwestern Chollas. During winter its bright red fruits add attractive color to the brown desert.

The genus name Mammillaria refers to the nipple-like projections on the stems. Similar species of Mammillaria and Coryphantha are distinguished by the position of the flower relative to the cluster of spines. In Coryphantha older nipples have a groove on the upper side. Both genera have some species with hooked spines.

Range: southeastern California to western Texas and northern Mexico.

Range: southern Colorado and Kansas to Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and northern Mexico. Additional info: this is the first bush-like or tree-like Cholla (pronounced choy'-yah) encountered when traveling from the east to the southwest.

Range: western Washington and southern British Columbia; south on the east side of the Cascade Mountains to Northern California and northern Arizona; east to northern Texas and southern Michigan. Additional info: this is one of the most common low prickly pears. Most have flatter stems.

Range: southeastern California to western Arizona; south to northwestern Mexico. Additional info: the plant's spines stick instantly and hold tightly by means of minute, backwardly directed barbs.

Range: southeastern California to southwestern Utah and western Arizona; south to Sonora. Additional info: the gray-green stems, low growth, and brilliant flowers, which often nearly cover the plant, make this a popular ornamental in hot, dry climates. The bristles can irritate the skin but do not pose the danger of species with long, rigid spines, such as the Prickly Pear (Opuntia polyacantha).

Range: southern Texas to northern Mexico. Additional info: cut, dried "buttons" of Peyote, when chewed, produce color hallucinations and are important in certain Indian religious ceremonies. A federal permit is required to possess any part of the plant. In Texas the cactus has almost been eliminated, but in areas of Mexico is still very common.

Range: Southern California to south-central Arizona. Additional info: the genus name comes from the Latin ferox (which means "fierce"), commonly applied to very spiny plants.

Range: southeastern California; east to southern Utah, central Colorado, and western Texas; south into northern Mexico.

Range: southeastern Wyoming and western South Dakota; south to eastern New Mexico and western Texas. Additional info: pitaya (pronounced pee-tah'-yah) is the phonetic spelling of the original Spanish pitahaya, a name given to species of Echinocereus but more broadly applied to a number of cacti which produce sweet, edible fruit.

Range: Central and southern Arizona to western Texas; Northern Mexico. Additional info: the banded colors of spines explain the name "rainbow". The strikingly beautiful flowers seem far too large for the plant.

The former genus name (Coryphantha) comes from the Greek koryphe (which means "cluster"), and anthos (which means "flower"). Habitat: rocky desert slopes and rocky or sandy soil among piñon, juniper, and ponderosa pine. Range: central Canada to Minnesota and southeastern Oregon; south to southeastern California, western Texas, and northern Mexico.