Sonoran Desert

The Sonoran Desert (Spanish: Desierto de Sonora) is a hot desert and ecoregion in North America that covers parts of the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the Southwestern United States (in Arizona and California). It has an area of 260,000 square kilometers (100,000 sq mi).

In phytogeography, the Sonoran Desert is within the Sonoran floristic province of the Madrean region of southwestern North America, part of the Holarctic realm of the northern Western Hemisphere. The desert contains a variety of unique endemic plants and animals, notably, the saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea) and organ pipe cactus (Stenocereus thurberi).