Vegetation Regions of the Baja Peninsula

The Baja peninsula supports three vegetative regions as shown on the map below.

CALIFORNIA REGION -- Vegetation in this region (shown in green) is similar to that found in the southeastern portions of California in the United States. It consists of densely growing shrubs, commonly referred to as chaparral. At higher elevations (lighter green) are coniferous forests.

SONORAN DESERT REGION -- This dry "true desert" (shown in blue) supports some of the finest and most scenic desert plants in the world. That area of the region in the northeastern portion of the peninsula (lighter blue) is the San Felipe Desert. Conditions are especially dry here, and the vegetation is more sparce and less attractive.

THE CAPE REGION -- This area (shown in red) also supports desert plants but they are more densely packed as the area receives too much rainfall to be a "true desert."

The Magnificent Peninsula guidebook contains a full chapter on vegetation with black and white photos of some of the larger most attractive plants. The Baja California Plant Field Guide is an outstanding publication containing descriptions of 550 plant species with 275 brilliant color photos.