T. oblongifolia growing in Death Valley, California, photographed as part of a previous study on the plant. (Karine Prado) ...

Despite the desert environment of the Coachella Valley, most of the landscaping here is predominantly made up of non-native and even tropical plants. Although aesthetically pleasing, these plants, ...

Desert plants — famous for tolerance of torrid landscapes — are dying at an alarming rate due to the twin threats of even hotter temperatures and less rain, according to new research published this ...

With their tough skins, pointy armor and legendary stamina, cacti are made to defend themselves from whatever nature throws at them. But large solar energy facilities are one threat that cacti weren’t ...

A research team led by Prof. Huang Zhenying from the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has discovered a remarkable survival strategy—a unique seed dormancy cycling mechanism ...

Although sunlight is one of the cleanest forms of renewable energy available, clearing large swathes of desert habitat to build solar arrays has consequences for the plants and animals it displaces.

In North America's hottest, driest desert, climate change is causing the decline of plants once thought nearly immortal and replacing them with shorter shrubs that can take advantage of sporadic ...

Take a leaf out of this book. A common desert moss sucks water directly out of the air instead of from the ground. The discovery could be used to inspire ways of collecting clean drinking water in ...

For the past 15 years, Philip Rundel has been developing this book through his long-term relationship and travels in deserts of the Southwestern United States, northern Chile and southern Africa. His ...