Woody Plants · Southwest Uplands
Woody Plants of New Mexico and Arizona Uplands
A working mental model for northern New Mexico and the Arizona upland travel corridor: dry basins and mesas, pinyon–juniper country, bosque and mountain streams, ponderosa forest, and higher conifer country.
These are field-learning lists, not exhaustive floras.
Dry Basins, Mesas & Grasslands
- Artemisia tridentata (Big sagebrush)
- Artemisia filifolia (Sand sagebrush)
- Ericameria nauseosa (Rubber rabbitbrush / chamisa)
- Krascheninnikovia lanata (Winterfat)
- Gutierrezia sarothrae (Broom snakeweed)
- Rhus trilobata (Skunkbush sumac / threeleaf sumac)
- Fallugia paradoxa (Apache plume)
- Purshia stansburyana (Stansbury cliffrose / cliffrose)
Pinyon–Juniper Woodlands & Rocky Foothills
- Pinus edulis (Two-needle pinyon / Colorado pinyon)
- Juniperus monosperma (One-seed juniper)
- Juniperus osteosperma (Utah juniper)
- Juniperus scopulorum (Rocky Mountain juniper)
- Juniperus deppeana (Alligator juniper)
- Quercus grisea (Gray oak)
- Cercocarpus montanus (Mountain mahogany / alderleaf mountain mahogany)
- Ceanothus fendleri (Fendler’s buckbrush)
Bosque, Rivers & Mountain Streams
- Populus deltoides var. wislizeni (Rio Grande cottonwood)
- Populus angustifolia (Narrowleaf cottonwood)
- Salix exigua (Coyote willow / sandbar willow)
- Acer negundo (Boxelder / ash-leaf maple)
- Prunus virginiana (Chokecherry)
- Forestiera pubescens (New Mexico olive / desert olive)
- Acer glabrum (Rocky Mountain maple)
- Alnus incana subsp. tenuifolia (Thinleaf alder / mountain alder)
- Betula occidentalis (Water birch)
Ponderosa Forest & Montane Shrublands
- Pinus ponderosa (Ponderosa pine)
- Quercus gambelii (Gambel oak)
- Ribes cereum (Wax currant)
Mixed Conifer & High Elevations
- Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas-fir)
- Abies concolor (White fir)
- Pinus reflexa (Southwestern white pine)
- Populus tremuloides (Quaking aspen / trembling aspen)
- Picea engelmannii (Engelmann spruce)
- Abies arizonica (Corkbark fir)
- Picea pungens (Blue spruce / Colorado blue spruce)
- Pinus flexilis (Limber pine)
- Pinus aristata (Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine)
Structural Succulents
- Yucca baccata (Banana yucca)
- Opuntia polyacantha (Plains pricklypear)
- Cylindropuntia imbricata (Tree cholla / cane cholla)
Shared with the Sonoran List
- Atriplex canescens (Fourwing saltbush)
- Salix gooddingii (Goodding’s willow)
- Juglans major (Arizona walnut)
- Quercus turbinella (Sonoran scrub oak / shrub live oak)
These species also appear on the Sonoran list; here they belong to dry basins, river corridors, rocky foothills, and Arizona upland canyons.
Arizona Corridor Oaks
- Quercus emoryi (Emory oak)
Candidates to add — not finalized
- Quercus arizonica (Arizona white oak)
Retained provisionally while I look for stronger local occurrence evidence along the Holbrook–Payson travel corridor.
How I use this list
This list is deliberately shaped around the places I actually return to and travel through. It is not a flora of two states. Species can overlap with the Sonoran model where the landscapes themselves overlap.