A variety of huge cactus growing in the Sonoran Desert north of Mesa, Arizona. These are mainly Cholla.
A variety of huge cactus growing in the Sonoran Desert north of Mesa, Arizona. The Sonoran Desert is an arid region covering 120,000 square miles in southwestern Arizona and southeastern California, as well as most of Baja California and the western half of the state of Sonora, Mexico. Subdivisions of this hot, dry region include the Colorado and Yuma deserts. Irrigation has produced many fertile agricultural areas, including the Coachella and Imperial valleys of California. Warm winters attract tourists to Sonora Desert resorts in Palm Springs, California, and Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona. This is the hottest of our North American deserts, but a distinctly bimodal rainfall pattern produces a high biological diversity. Winter storms from the Pacific nourish many West Coast annuals such as poppies and lupines, while well-developed summer monsoons host both annuals and woody plants originating from the south. Freezing conditions can be expected for a few nights in winter. Trees are usually well developed on the desert ranges and their bajadas. Often abundant on these well-drained soils are Little-leaf Palo Verdes, Desert Ironwoods, Catclaw and Saguaro.
Size: 4256px × 2831px
Location: Usery Mountain Regional County Park, AZ.
Photo credit: © Morey Milbradt / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: arid, arizona, blue, cactus, chain, cholla, color, colorful, county, desert, dry, evening, fruit, green, huge, image, morning, nature, ocotillo, orange, outdoors, park, red, saguaro, sharp, sonoran, spines, sunburst, sunrise, sunset, sunshine, tall, twilight, usery
