The Central Mexican matorral is a semi-arid shrubland ecoregion of roughly 59,400 sq km on the southern Mexican Plateau, encompassing the Valley of Mexico and Mexico City, North America's largest metropolis. This relatively flat desert reaches elevations up to about 2,000 m and is ringed and dotted by mountain ranges. Its climate is subtropical and semi-arid, with warm summers, occasional summer rains, and cool winters; average annual precipitation is under 500 mm. The characteristic vegetation is dry matorral dominated by cacti, agaves, and shrubs such as lechuguilla and acacias, with the golden barrel cactus (Echinocactus grusonii) as a flagship species. Geographic isolation drives exceptionally high endemism, but the ecoregion is classified critical/endangered, with little protected habitat and pressure from agriculture, grazing, urban growth, and illegal cactus collection.

At a glance

About the deserts & xeric shrublands biome

Arid and semi-arid lands where low, erratic rainfall and high evaporation limit vegetation to drought-adapted shrubs, succulents, and sparse grasses. Day-to-night temperature swings are large, and life is finely tuned to water scarcity.

Catalog plants suited to this ecoregion

Computed from each plant's stated USDA zone range against this ecoregion's CHELSA-derived current zone range, with the CHELSA mid-century warming delta applied for the projection. Plants whose stated range falls outside both the current and projected zone end up dropped; the rest land in one of the three buckets below.

Collections for this ecoregion

No curated collection's plants all fit this ecoregion's zone range. We surface a collection only when every member would grow here — partial fits get filtered out rather than mislead. As the catalog and the curated set both grow, this section will fill in.

Related ecoregions