Common plants of this desert ecosystem include the bizarre cirio, or boojum, its relative the ocotillo, the giant saguaro-like cardon cactus, organ-pipe cactus, many smaller cacti, various species of mesquite, acacia, and elephant trees.

The most distinctive plant, the cirio (Idria columnaris), usually rises straight up, unbranched, to a height of 30 to 40 feet. Sometimes they branch (in response to an injury), or curve. The leaves, borne on short spiky side-branches, appear when moisture is available, then fall off during extended droughts. The trunk is a massive water storage organ -- rapping on the trunk produces a sound reminiscent of a ripe watermelon. Cirios, also known as boojums (from the poem by Lewis Carroll), grow only in central Baja, plus one isolated stand on the Sonora coast across the gulf.