CHIHUAHUAN DESERT: ELEVATED REGIONS

At the higher elevations of the Chihuahuan Desert, the desert grassland community is enriched by drought-tolerant plants such as sotol (lily family), century plants (Agave), prickly pears and chollas.

Desert grassland with sotol and a century plant

This community is replaced, in turn, by a scrub zone, dominated by evergreen bushes and subtrees, including small sclerophyllous (thick-leaved) evergreen oaks with waxy cuticles.

Oak scrub zone

Emory oak (Quercus emoryi) and prickly pear cactus

Close-up of emory oak (Quercus emoryi) leaves

Grey oak (Quercus grisea)

Shrub live oak (Quercus turbinella)

Three trees in the mountainous region of the Big Bend Basin: juniper (left), oak (centre), pinyon pine (right)

At still higher elevations, the tree zone is dominated by Ponderosa pine and Gambel oak

Alligator juniper, so-called because of the alligator-skin pattern of the bark

Beargrass (Nolina)

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