Saguaro Forest

Sabino Canyon, Tucson, Arizona, July 25, 2012

The giant Saguaro Cactus (Carnegiea gigantea) is one of the trademark of the Sonoran Desert. The Sonoran Desert is often quite lush (especially in monsoon season, as here), and perhaps desert is not quite the right word for it. (That's doubly true if you've recently seen the barren desert along the Peruvian or Chilean coast, as have I.) Perhaps it's better to think of this area of the Sonoran Desert as being a Saguaro forest.