The Sonoran-Sinaloan subtropical dry forest stretches across northwestern Mexico (Sonora, Sinaloa and Chihuahua), forming a transition belt between the arid Sonoran Desert to the north and the more mesic Sinaloan tropical dry forests to the south, from sea level to roughly 2,000 m in the Sierra Madre foothills. Its characteristic vegetation is deciduous thorn forest and semiarid scrub ("selva espinosa"), including cacti such as jumping cholla, barrel cactus and organ pipe, alongside acacias and the elephant tree (torote prieto). The climate is dry, with roughly 100–200 mm of annual rainfall falling mostly in summer; coastal proximity keeps temperature swings to about 10–15°C and frosts are rare. Only about 5% of the ecoregion is protected, with cattle grazing the main threat, alongside agriculture, hunting and invasive buffelgrass.

At a glance

About the tropical & subtropical dry broadleaf forests biome

Tropical forests that pass through a pronounced dry season, when many trees drop their leaves to conserve water. They hold high biodiversity but are among the most threatened tropical habitats, sensitive to fire and to clearing for agriculture.

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