Sonoran Desert Nightshades

Fremont Thornbush

Lycium fremontii

Parish's Desert-Thorn

Lycium parishii

Woody shrub with fleshy leaves and bright purple, small, tubular-funnelform flowers. Found in habitats with deep silty soil that is saline/alkaline as along desert rivers and near the sea coast. Detailed Description

Intricately branched shrub with modest thorns found in washes and on rocky slopes in s.w. Arizona and s.e. California. Leaves with sticky hairs. Detailed Description

Wolfberry

Lycium exsertum

Anderson Thornbush

Lycium andersonii

Woody shrub with weakly spiny branches. Bright red berries in fruit also called tomatillos. One of the several common species of wolfberry found mostly on rocky slopes in the Sonoran Desert. Notice thickened nodes with buttons of old bud scales present in many Lycium spp.   Detailed Description

Woody shrub with weakly spiny branches. Bright red berries in fruit also called tomatillos. One of the several common species of wolfberry found mostly on rocky slopes in the Sonoran Desert.   Detailed Description

Berlandier's Thornbush

Lycium berlandieri

Woody shrub with spine-tipped branches. Bright red berries in fruit also called tomatillos. One of the several common species of wolfberry found mostly on rocky slopes in the Sonoran Desert. Detailed Description

Douglas' Nighshade

Solanum douglasii

Desert Tobacco

Nicotiana obtusifolia

Annual or perennial found in or near mesquite bosques or other part-shade habitats at middle and upper elevations of the Sonoran Desert. Petals white with prominent yellow stamens. Fruit a dark berry.     Detailed Description

Common Sonoran Desert plant usu. found where there is an increased supply of moisture such as along washes or along shady cliff faces. Fragrant, rather sticky leaves. Cream yellow tubular flowers. Fruit a dry capsule. Photo by Wikimedia User: Stan Shebs. License Information Click Here.     Detailed Description

Desert Thorn Bush

Lycium macrodon

Tree Tobacco

Nicotiana glauca

Woody shrub with weakly spiny branches. This is one of the less common species in the Sonoran Desert. Berries are usu. slightly creasted. Notice thickened nodes with buttons of old bud scales present in many Lycium spp.   Detailed Description

A small tree often growing in groups. Fairly common near riparian habitats in the Sonoran Desert and also near irrigated agriculture. Flowers are long, tubular and yellow. Both leaves and flowers are waxy.   Detailed Description