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12[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/SonicRunnersAdventure https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sonic_runners_adventure_desert_ruins_zone.png]]]]
13[[caption-width-right:350:Desert Ruins: Where the architecture of Giza meets the vegetation of the Sonoran.]]
14
15The hero and his [[PluckyComicRelief comic-relief]] {{sidekick}} are trudging across the [[ThirstyDesert burning sands]], looking for water or shelter, and they walk past a towering saguaro cactus. The problem is, they're marching through the deserts of Arabia...
16
17In fiction, most deserts have cacti, usually the classic two-armed [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguaro saguaro]], though barrel and beavertail cacti are popular too, while prickly pears also show up on a fairly regular basis. But the Sahara - with the exception of its oases, where a variety of trees can grow - only has hardy grasses, bushes, shrubs, sand dunes and bare rock -- cacti are only native to the Americas. And despite its common depiction as the ubiquitous cactus, the saguaro only grows in the Sonoran Desert, which covers mostly parts of western Sonora in Northern Mexico, Southern Arizona in the US, and a tiny bit of southern California. It does ''not'' include any part of Texas, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Chihuahua (which is actually only desertic near the US border), Baja California (which is an entirely different ecosystem), northern or central California, or even Northern Arizona or eastern Sonora (which is actually a subtropical land).
18
19The entire family of Cactaceae is exclusive to the Americas in its native range -- yes, even in high-altitude and colder areas.[[note]]except for the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhipsalis_baccifera mistletoe cactus]], which can be found in Africa and Sri Lanka; and the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opuntia nopal cactus]], which is a staple food in Mexico but has grown invasively in places such as Australia or the Mediterranean[[/note]] You'll only see them elsewhere if they've been introduced by humans to the area, or purposely cultivated for their fruit or decoration (usually, the latter leads to the former; feral prickly pears descended from ones raised for fruit are a pretty common sight in the semi-deserts of southern Europe and the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East).
20
21This particular portrayal runs into some ambiguity when dealing with entirely {{Constructed World}}s -- more to the point, ones in which the Americas or any other organism's real-life native range don't actually exist. In these cases, the presence of cacti in any or all deserts is not really any more or less unrealistic than the presence of any real plants and animals anywhere. Note, however, that such cases may still qualify if cacti are present in [[FantasyCounterpartCulture areas clearly themed around or based on real-life areas]] where cacti don't grow.
22
23If you want to establish that you're in a hot desert, there's no better way than to throw in a cactus. Increasingly, this trope is used to justify a IntoxicationEnsues or a MushroomSamba; while many have heard of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peyote Peyote,]] few realize that it is a cactus -- at least until someone on television is trapped in the desert, dying of thirst, and remembers that cacti are full of water... AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle.
24
25An alternative stereotype is that all deserts are nothing but [[SeaOfSand hot, sandy wastelands]] -- aside from the cacti -- completely disregarding the fact that all deserts except Antarctica have vibrant ecosystems with their own unique animal and plant life. While cacti are the most well-known, you also have [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloe Aloes,]] for example, which are native to Southern Africa and parts of Arabia and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agave Agaves]] which were native to Mexico but may now be found across the world. The bit about sand is also exaggerated, as many deserts, including where cacti grow native, are rocky rather than sandy -- a sandy dune desert is specifically an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erg_(landform) erg]], the largest one in the world being [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rub%27_al_Khali Rub al-Khali]] (mostly in Saudi Arabia), which also happens to have quite a bit of human development on account of being one of the most oil-rich places in the world. Additionally, a desert isn't always hot -- it's less about heat and more about annual precipitation, as evidenced by the existence of cold deserts.[[note]]In fact, the largest desert on the planet is actually Antarctica.[[/note]] But even then, due to a lack of vegetation and cloud cover, warm desert landscapes have a tendency to wildly fluctuate in temperature, meaning that someone traveling through could potentially have to worry about heatstroke and hypothermia within the same 24-hour period.
26
27If your game has a ShiftingSandLand level, expect to see cacti, often as [[CactusCushion spiky obstacles that damage you when you collide with them]]. Makes you wonder just how sharp these needles are for them to kill someone who bumps into them a few times. These are also some of the only notable features you can expect to see in a SeaOfSand.
28
29Probably a result of either ArtisticLicenseBotany, ArtisticLicenseGeography or CaliforniaDoubling due to lacking the budget to film on location elsewhere.
30
31A subtrope of MisplacedVegetation.
32----
33!!Examples:
34
35[[foldercontrol]]
36
37[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
38* In the ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' episode "[[Recap/CowboyBebopSession17MushroomSamba Mushroom Samba]]", the crew runs out of fuel and crash-lands on Io, a moon of Jupiter. The series often pays homage [[SpaceWestern to its roots]], and this part of Io just so happens to have been {{terraform}}ed into a desert typical of the American southwest, complete with cacti.
39* ''Manga/DesertPunk'': Averted: the series is set in an AfterTheEnd Kanto region of Japan which has been turned into a desert, and thus has no cacti.
40* In ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'', Mimi's crest is found inside the flower topping a gigantic cactus in the middle of a desert. How gigantic is this cactus? It's as tall as a cruise liner is long. In this case, it's {{justified|Trope}} due to being in [[{{Cyberspace}} the digital world]].
41* ''Literature/IriyaNoSoraUFONoNatsu'' uses the "all deserts are sandy wastelands" variation to portray Nevada, complete with a raging sandstorm.
42* ''Manga/OnePiece'': A brief gag during the Arabasta arc has Luffy drink from a cactus, despite the kingdom being more Arabic than American, with [[IntoxicationEnsues near-identical results]] to the ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' example. Luckily, Chopper, the team doctor, happened to have a needle full of tranquilizer on him...
43[[/folder]]
44
45[[folder:Comic Books]]
46* ''ComicBook/{{Bamse}}'': In one comic, Bamse digs next to a cactus, hoping to find water. He instead finds oil, which is spotted by ''bedouins'', who then come to Bamse's aid.
47* In ''ComicBook/ElfQuest'', [[https://web.archive.org/web/20080323201536/http://www.elfquest.com/gallery/OnlineComics/OQ/OQ02/DisplayOQ02.html?page=10 cacti provide the Wolfriders with an emergency water supply]] during their desperate desert journey. Possibly justified because it takes place on an Earthlike planet with almost-identical flora and fauna. Realistically, they pass through both sandy dunes and rocky flats during their journey, and the cacti only grow in the latter.
48* ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'' averts this, placing the characters in Arabian Deserts numerous times with no cacti.
49[[/folder]]
50
51[[folder:Comic Strips]]
52* ''ComicStrip/{{Crock}}'' features cacti prominently in the Sahara.
53* In ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'', Snoopy's brother Spike is always portrayed sitting under a two-armed saguaro cactus. He actually has a house inside a hollowed-out cactus. Although he does live in the American Southwest, his home in Needles, CA, is too far north for saguaros.
54[[/folder]]
55
56[[folder:Fan Works]]
57* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''Fanfic/ChangeOfPlans:'' when Gwen accidentally hurts herself on a cactus in Australia, Chris notes that they [[ImmoralRealityShow brought it along for the challenge]].
58[[/folder]]
59
60[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
61* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Jungle Book|1967}}'': As noted in its song, the cacti are specifically prickly pears (genus Opuntia). Although native to the Americas, they have been spread around the world and are now a major invasive species in many places (especially Australia and parts of Africa). They're not at all common in India, but can certainly be found there.
62* ''WesternAnimation/Madagascar1'' features cacti growing in ''jungles''. While the only cactus native to the Old World, the epiphytic mistletoe cactus, is found in rainforests of Africa and Madagascar, having been introduced there via migratory birds, the stereotypical pricey ground plants in the movie look nothing like it.
63* In ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolfTheTigerProwess'', Lord Japper creates an amusement park right where Goat Village is. The amusement park uses up energy from the ground, causing the surrounding area to dry up and become a desert... which ''somehow'' has cacti growing everywhere despite the series taking place in China which doesn't have cacti.
64* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rango}}'', which the film states takes place in the Mojave Desert, has plenty of cacti in the desert around the town of Dirt. While there are in fact plenty of species of cacti that grow natively, the lovingly and accurately rendered saguaro does not.
65[[/folder]]
66
67[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
68* ''Film/BillAndTedsExcellentAdventure'': The scene where Bill and Ted visit 19th-century New Mexico prominently features a saguaro in its opening shot. The movie ''was'' filmed in the Sonoran Desert, so perhaps this is mostly as example of Arizona Doubling, but even still, they ''could'' have built the set away from the saguaro.
69* ''Film/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas'': The film version pays tribute to Ralph Steadman's original art -- which depicted saguaro cacti on the road between Barstow and Las Vegas -- by inserting the occasional black cardboard cutout of a saguaro in the background of some of the driving scenes.
70* More a case of 'All Western Locales Have Cacti' in ''Film/GrimPrairieTales'' as there are saguaro cacti in the prairie where Morrison and Deeds are camped. Especially strange as Deeds is supposedly travelling from Seattle to Jacksonville, so his route should not take him anywhere near a saguaro cactus.
71* ''Theatre/JosephAndTheAmazingTechnicolorDreamcoat'': Justified, thematically if not in terms of setting. Although there are saguaro cacti in the "One More Angel" scene, which is set in Canaan, the song itself has a country-western tone.
72* ''Film/TheKingOfKings'': Jesus Christ preaches in the Holy Land while standing next to a beavertail cactus.
73* ''Film/KingOfKings'': Jesus Christ, while fasting in the wilderness, breaks open a beavertail cactus leaf and drinks the water inside.
74* ''Film/Posse1975'' is supposedly set in Texas yet the train passes many saguaro cacti which do not grow in Texas.
75* In ''Film/{{Risen}}'', prickly pears are seen growing all around Pilate's mansion. Prickly pears DO grow in the Middle East, and their fruit is highly favored, but they were introduced from the Americas, so they would not have been present [[AnachronismStew in the first century AD]].
76* ''Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock'': Invoked. One of the indications of the instability of the Genesis planet is patchwork ecosystems in close proximity; a desert region next door to a lush jungle is visually signified not by expanses of sand but rocky terrain and tall cacti, which look eerily beautiful when snowed upon.
77%%* ''Film/WildHogs'': Averted and lampshaded.
78[[/folder]]
79
80[[folder:Literature]]
81%%* ''Literature/TheThirteenAndAHalfLivesOfCaptainBluebear'': One of the deserts features a cactus made out of sugar dust.%%Is the desert non-American?
82* ''Literature/DidIEverTellYouHowLuckyYouAre'': The narrator meets an old man in the Desert of Drize, who is sitting atop a cactus. This is a rather ambiguous example, however, given the fanciful and unreal nature of Creator/DrSeuss' settings.
83* ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'': Justified. Cacti are introduced to the [[SingleBiomePlanet desert planet]] Arrakis as part of a terraforming effort, although the planet is so arid that initially they can only survive in carefully guarded parts of the mountains (away from the [[SandWorm worms]]) with dew collectors providing them with water.
84* ''Literature/RedNails'': Conan the Cimmerian and Valeria travel across a "cactus-dotted plain" and spend the night in a ring of cacti for protection while adventuring in prehistoric Africa.
85* In ''Literature/{{Sourcery}}'', okrah, the GargleBlaster of certain Great Nef desert tribesmen, is made from cactus sap and scorpion venom. Everything else about the Great Nef is a FantasyCounterpartCulture of the Sahara, but the Literature/{{Discworld}} lacks a counterpart to American deserts[[note]]unless you count the Slaked Plain in the Great Outdoors, but that area was introduced much later[[/note]], so the cacti have to go ''somewhere''.
86* While ''Literature/TheStoryOfFerdinand'' is set in the rather arid regions of Southern Spain, we still see prickly pear cacti in the background.
87[[/folder]]
88
89[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
90* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'': Used intentionally in "Scott of the Sahara" with cardboard saguaro cacti in the Sahara Desert as produced by a bad movie-maker.
91* On ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'', one planet-of-the-week is a desert planet with its own cacti for making wine.
92[[/folder]]
93
94[[folder:Music]]
95* Creator/MariaMuldaur's "Midnight at the Oasis" is full of ArabianNightsDays imagery, but also says "Cactus is our friend".
96* Music/TheReverendHortonHeat have a song titled "Ain't No Saguaro in Texas", which complains about this trope and tries to inform the listener about what Texas ''does'' have.
97[[/folder]]
98
99[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
100* One of Big Japan Pro Wrestling's signature GimmickMatches, The Scorpion Death Match, replaces the barbed wire used in the ''Piranha'' Death Match with cacti, for a more desert feel. This ignores that deserts in Japan don't have cacti.[[/folder]]
101
102[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
103* In ''TabletopGame/DarkSun'''s Pathfinder interpretation, there are cacti... of course, [[EverythingTryingToKillYou this is Dark Sun]], so they try to eat your blood.
104* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': The 3.5 Edition {{Sourcebook}} ''Sandstorm'' describes everything about life in a desert environment. Cacti are obviously included, and two of the monsters listed in it are the porcupine cacti ([[MadeOfExplodium they reproduce by exploding in a burst of pulp, seeds, and thorns at the slightest touch]]) and the saguaro sentinels (basically desert {{Treants}}, swapping trees for cacti). Note, however, that ''D&D'''s base settings are by and large entirely fictitious works with no particular relation to real-life geography or ecologies.
105[[/folder]]
106
107[[folder:Video Games]]
108* ''VideoGame/AdventureIsland'' games after the first one feature desert areas. Deserts have both Egyptian-style pyramids and saguaro cacti.
109* Both ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresI'' and ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresII'' have Arabian, Gobi, and Sahara deserts full of cacti.
110* ''VideoGame/AtelierRyza2LostLegendsAndTheSecretFairy'': The Northern Lands, contrary to the usual frigid tundra, are instead a rocky desert highly reminiscent of the Southwestern United States, cacti and all.
111* ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'': Gobi's Valley includes these, despite being ancient Egyptian-themed and named after (a camel named after) a desert in Asia.
112%%* ''VideoGame/BackyardSports'' ''Backyard Football'' has Cactus Gulch, which has... well... you know.%%So why shouldn't cacti be there?
113* ''VideoGame/BloodWest'', a WeirdWest-style game set in a Western desert have plenty of cacti of assorted sizes as scenery filler.
114* ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'':
115** The game has an unusual variation: Stinging Cacti, which are a bit like if a geneticist spliced electric eel genes into a cactus plant. The catch is they only appear in the ''Arctic'' sections of the game... [[TruthInTelevision which are deserts]].
116** The regular variety of cacti (called 'Stactus plants' in-game) appear in the regular sand-and-heat deserts of Pandora.
117* ''VideoGame/BraveHeroYuusha'': The desert map has cacti and the Racket Cactus monsters.
118%%* ''VideoGame/BraveTrials'': The Desert Oasis has plenty of cacti.%%ZCE
119* ''VideoGame/BugFables'': The Lost Sands desert is dotted with round cacti, and there is a ravine around the middle filled with it. While the greater location of ''Bug Fables'' is [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield ambiguous,]] the Lost Sands having cacti is still unusual in that it is actually a backyard sandbox in a MouseWorld, and cacti are not seen outside of this sandbox.
120* ''VideoGame/CarnivoresTriassic'': Most maps contain one variation or another of prickly pear and occasionally saguaro, sometimes in surreal color schemes, though they're not very common. [[HandWave Justified]] in the game taking place on an alien planet, not on prehistoric Earth.
121%% * In ''VideoGame/ClickerHeroes'', you tend to face Caperticus enemies in the Drylands and the desert areas.
122* ''VideoGame/{{Clonk}}'': Cacti are the go-to decoration for any and all deserts.
123%%* ''VideoGame/CosmicBreak'': Desersands feature plenty of Meta Cacti.
124* In ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'', the default data files specify that all desert biomes contain saguaros. However, the game does recognize three different types of deserts (sand deserts, badlands, and rocky wastelands), so the game's data files can be modified to make the situation slightly more realistic.
125* In ''VideoGame/EarthAndSky'', even the alien deserts have cacti.
126* In ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'', Hammerfell (as seen in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]''), despite it being otherwise closer to a North African desert, has cacti. Averted in places which are desert-like (the Ashlands of Vvardenfell in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', for instance,) but don't fit the traditional idea most people have of deserts.
127* ''VideoGame/EuropaUniversalis'': The "desert" graphics will always feature cacti, even if it's a Persian desert.
128* Despite ''VideoGame/EverOasis'' being set in a place that takes a lot more from Egypt than it does from America, cacti are a staple crop in the game, [[RewardingVandalism and can be easily cut up for materials]].
129* ''VideoGame/FarCry2'' falls prey to this trope, having big Saguaros... in the middle of Africa.
130* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
131** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' plays with this. The Dalmasca Westersand has large round cacti all over the place while the Estersand lacks cacti altogether. On the other hand, both deserts are home to the game's [[RecurringElement Cactuar-equivalent]], the cactoids.
132** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' averts this as of the ''Stormblood'' expansion. There are two desert areas in Eorzea the player is allowed to explore, Thanalan and Gyr Abania, but only the former has cacti, or Cactuars. Amh Araeng from ''Shadowbringers'' also has them, but it's an AlternateUniverse counterpart to Thanalan, so it makes sense.
133* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun1'', despite being set in a fantasy world, has two deserts with cacti in the battle scenery. The America-equivalent continents don't get explored until ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'', and the deserts on those use battle scenery that ''doesn't have cacti''.
134* ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'' introduces cacti in a very odd manner. Prickly pear cacti appear in the Maguuma Wastes as a harvestable plant. Choya, sentient plant creatures based on cacti, also appear... in Elona, where there are no regular cacti plants.
135* ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' has a few saguaro cacti in the outdoor areas... despite being located in New Mexico. While New Mexico has cacti, it doesn't have saguaros.
136* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
137** Averted in ''VideoGame/Halo3''; an entire mission (one of the game's longest in fact) is set in a desert and features not one cactus. That said, it's an ''alien'' desert.
138** Also averted in ''VideoGame/Halo4'', where Requiem's deserts are shown to be cactus-less, probably because Requiem is an artificial world built by ancient aliens.
139* In ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic I'' and ''II'', both the Desert and Wasteland terrains (the two terrains closest to the traditional idea most people have of deserts) have cacti as associated decoration/movement blockers, with most maps featuring either or both terrains making use of it. ''III'', which is set on a different continent, removed the Wasteland terrain and merged the Desert terrain with the Beach terrain into a single Sand terrain... which as a result has both cacti and palm trees, and maps that use Sand for more than just beaches tend to make use of cacti.
140%%* ''VideoGame/HolyBeastOnline''" Many maps have cacti or mushrooms on them. They're usually small, but it doesn't stop your character from getting stuck on them. And then there are Wrigglons, which are cactus-like monsters that wear bowties.
141%%* ''VideoGame/{{Iconoclasts}}'': The Shard Wastelands are a desert area with plenty of cacti seen in the background.
142* In ''Incredible Dracula 2: The Last Call'' the desert portion of the level map contains a pyramid, a sphinx, palm trees -- and cacti.
143* ''VideoGame/InfiniteUndiscovery'' features a pair of Barrel Cactus creatures with the distinctly Mexican names "Amigo" and "Tequilo". Man-sized walking Barrel Cactus. That can shoot needles in multiple directions simultaneously, spew spores when struck by attacks that might paralyze/poison you, and bowl you over with a rolling attack. The former is played straighter by being found in the desert region of the game, while the latter is peculiar by being found in a tropical jungle setting. Which works in its favor, since its coloring gives it a bit of camouflage against the planty surroundings.
144%%* Some of the Wind forests of ''VideoGame/JadeCocoon 2'' still contain your stereotypical cacti.
145%%* ''VideoGame/Jak3Wastelander'' has cacti spread throughout the Wasteland.
146%%* The second stage of ''VideoGame/JewelMaster'' is set in a desert, and it's landscape is filled with assorted cacti that you need to blast apart from a distance to proceed. Gettinng hit by cacti debris can ''hurt'' you, by the way.
147* ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards'' contains a SingleBiomePlanet based off of deserts. The first level of this planet is based off of ancient Egypt, yet the background is filled with cacti.
148%%* ''VideoGame/LastDream'': The Oasis, Dry Gulch and the Southern Desert all feature plenty of cacti.
149* ''VideoGame/{{Thelastio}}'': The desert/beach zone of the island features plenty of cacti, and running into one instantly takes off 25 [=HP=]. There's even a golden chest that's surrounded by four of them, making it difficult to retrieve its contents without getting hurt, or at least wasting time on breaking one of the cacti with weapons.
150* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
151%%** ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'': There are cacti in enemy battles in the desert. These are only one-armed, though.
152%%** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'': The Gerudo Desert is notable for being cactus-free, though Leevers (leech-like creatures) look similar to cacti in the latter game (this also applies to the spinoff ''VideoGame/LinksCrossbowTraining'').
153** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': The main portion of Gerudo Desert has saguaro-style cactuses, despite the resident Gerudo tribe being based on Middle East motifs.
154* ''VideoGame/MadMaze'': Even though takes place in the general area of the Middle East and Northern Africa, the second level still features plenty of cacti.
155* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
156** The series features Pokey, a sentient xerophyte creature that consists of a pile of spherical cactus formations, with the top sphere serving as a head; and with rare exceptions, they're found exclusively in desert levels. Their debut in the series was in the desert levels of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'', though their ur-appearance was in the game's precursor ''VideoGame/DokiDokiPanic'', a game with an ''Arabian'' theme (cacti do not exist natively in the RealLife deserts of the Middle East, though some specimens have been imported). For a while, the trope was averted in the following games (''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand'' have desert levels but no Pokeys, viceversa for ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'', and neither exist in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand2SixGoldenCoins''), until ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' made it a near-omnipresent tradition.
157** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'' features the Spiky Snifits who look like saguaro cacti. You find them in the desert Teehee Valley.
158* ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'': The opening stage of ''Zero 2'', a desert, had tall ''mechanical'' saguaro cacti that fired spikes and round barrel cacti that rolled about and shot bombs. In ''Zero 3'', Glacier le Cactank is an aversion. If you haven't guessed it yet by his name, he's AnIcePerson. His territory is a ''snowy'' region.
159* ''VideoGame/{{Miitopia}}'': The Neksdor Kingdom is a desert littered with [[BuildLikeAnEgyptian Egyptian architecture]] with an Arabian-like backstory. Neither Egypt nor the Middle East naturally have cacti in their deserts and ''yet'' the Neksdor Kingdom is filled with them.
160* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'': Cacti have a small chance of spawning anywhere on sand, and in desert biomes they are everywhere.
161* ''VideoGame/{{Minit}}'': The flat, endless sand of the desert is littered with cacti.
162* ''VideoGame/MonsterRacers'': All of the deserts have cacti, even if they're in India. All of them have oases as well.
163%%* ''VideoGame/{{Nihilumbra}}'': Played straight in the desert levels.%%"Played straight" how?
164* ''VideoGame/NoMansSky'': Desert biome planets have Cactacae-like plants like the ones you'd find throughout Baja California.
165* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
166** ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald]]'': Route 111 includes a desert and is the only place you can find a Cacnea, despite Hoenn being a FantasyCounterpartCulture to the Japanese island of Kyushu.
167** ''[[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Diamond/Pearl/Platinum]]'': Route 228, featuring Cacnea's evolved form Cacturne. This despite Sinnoh being based of Hokkaido.
168** ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'': The Desert Resort features a new cactus Pokémon, Maractus, though Unova is at least based on someplace in North America, even if it's New York State. Ironically, Maractus actually can't survive in its homeplace, [[TooDumbToLive as it has no Ability whatsoever that prevents it from being hit by sandstorms]].
169** Averted in ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'' and ''VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness''; Orre doesn't have cacti, even though it's covered almost entirely in deserts and based on Arizona where it would be appropriate for them to be present.
170** Cacnea go rolling down sand dunes in the desert area of ''VideoGame/NewPokemonSnap'', whose setting is loosely based on the Galapagos Islands.
171* ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheMiracleMask'': The desert next to Monte d'Or has cacti, despite being in the UK. Although that's the least of the problems with its location.
172-->'''Luke''': That's a cactus, isn't it? You don't see many of those round London.
173%% * ''VideoGame/RelicRPG'': The Terra Desert is ''full'' of Cacti.
174* In ''VideoGame/{{Rimworld}}'', Saguaro cacti are present in all desert biomes along with agave bushes. Justified in this case as the planet you're on is the product of {{terraforming}}, so they've likely been deliberately introduced to all arid regions so that settlers would have a source of lumber and edible fruit even in the harshest environments.
175* ''VideoGame/RollerCoasterTycoon'' had Saguaro cacti available in the scenery window no matter where you go, allowing you to place them in the Arctic if you so choose. But more to the point, an Egypt-themed premade scenario also had some sitting around. Possibly justified in that it's quite literally TheThemeParkVersion, and a cactus will grow just as well in a fake Egypt as a fake Wild West. Nobody really ever said they were real, live cacti either.
176* In ''VideoGame/RuneScape'', cacti abound in the very Arabian/Egyptian-themed desert. Cutting them and drinking their water is kinda useful for not dying from the heat, so they could be given a pass.
177* ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}'': Cacti are everywhere in the deserts, and you'll take damage if you touch them.
178%%* ''VideoGame/SinAndPunishmentStarSuccessor'': The last stretch of Stage 5 features giant man-eating cacti.%%Is Stage 5 a desert?
179* ''VideoGame/SpyroTheDragon1998'': There were cacti all over the desert levels. Some of them would even shake themselves to get the soot off if you used your flame attack on them. Rather impressively, though, the cacti only show up in levels with an "American" theme within the trilogy. Dry Canyon and Cliff Town are both based on areas ("Colorado" and "Mexico") which might be expected to have cacti, and Dino Mines is the Old West with dinosaurs (and cacti). Skeletos Badlands has cacti as well, but no clear effective location. The two desert levels which ''do'' have a clear non-American location (Scorch and Desert Ruins) are cacti-free.
180* ''VideoGame/{{Starbound}}'' has cacti in the desert, but this is perhaps justified because the game takes place [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace IN SPACE]]!
181* ''VideoGame/StardewValley'': Calico Desert not only has cacti (complete with Cactus Fruit you can harvest and sell back in town), but in the same place as palm trees. {{Justified|Trope}} in that the game's setting is based on the Western United States which does natively have cacti - including the prickly pear, which the Cactus Fruit is based on.
182* ''VideoGame/StickRanger'': Even though the sand area is clearly Egyptian, with a pyramid and an oasis in its middle, cacti enemies can still be found there.
183* In ''VideoGame/SuperTuxKart'', some deserts have cacti. Coyote Canyon is an add-on racetrack in a rocky desert with saguaro cacti. Coyote Canyon resembles the Grand Canyon in Arizona, though saguaro is not among the cacti at the Grand Canyon. Shifting Sands has no cacti, because it resembles [[BuildLikeAnEgyptian Egypt with pyramids]].
184* ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'' features a desert where you must deflate cacti with your sorcerer's ring to restock your water supply periodically. Also cactus monsters live in it.
185* In ''VideoGame/TeamBuddies'', you are sure to find cacti (and possibly pyramids) in all the desert levels.
186* The "Blazing Sands" level skin in ''VideoGame/TempleRun 2'' automatically adds cacti to the background.
187* In ''VideoGame/{{Terranigma}}'', the Gobi desert (which is located in Asia, by the way) is covered in cacti.
188* In ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'', all desert biomes (created when there's a large enough concentration of sand) automatically grow cacti.
189* ''VideoGame/TinyAndBig'': Cacti appear in the deserts, although since the ultimate location is left unknown, it may have been appropriate.
190%% * ''VideoGame/ToejamAndEarl'': The first game has [[QuicksandSucks sand]], mostly in later levels, which nearly always comes with cacti.
191* In ''VideoGame/TheTwistedTalesOfSpikeMcFang'', Kalala Desert, as well as the preceding area, Rat Mountain, doesn't just have saguaro cactuses -- it has maraca-wielding Dancing Cactuses!
192* ''VideoGame/Uncharted3DrakesDeception'' averts this, with the desert in question being in the Middle East. Sadly for Drake, there isn't any other life either.
193* ''VideoGame/VineRealms'' despite the Lupin Desert appearing to be based loosely on Egypt (with a pyramid, sphinxes, and generic Middle East architecture), there are also saguaro cacti in the dunes.
194* In ''Videogame/VivaPinata: Trouble in Paradise'', most of the Dessert Desert's [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic accompanying soundtrack]] and native piñatas (as well as their homes) have clear Old World inspiration, but there are also cacti. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] because it's set on a fictional island.
195%%* ''VideoGame/{{Westerado}}'': Played straight, like in the Westerns it was InspiredBy.%%ZCE -- played straight how?
196* In ''VideoGame/{{Westward}}'', you'll even find cacti in the heavily forested areas.
197* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': The only desert regions in the game with cacti are Durotar and Thistleshrub Valley, the latter being a subzone of Tanaris. Cacti are completely missing in the two Egypt-themed zones Silithus and Uldum, and are also not found in the greater part of Tanaris.
198* In ''VideoGame/TheWolfAndTheWaves'', cacti are the signature plant in the island's desert. One of the cacti is crimson, and an ingredient the player character needs for his cure.
199* ''VideoGame/XCom'':
200** No matter where you deploy for UFO recovery in the world, as long as you touch down in desert, you ''will'' see cacti and pyramids when you disembark from the Skyranger.
201** ''VideoGame/XCOM2'': If there's a desert climate mission, it will have cacti, even if the mission is set in Sahara.
202* ''VideoGame/{{ZAR}}'': The arid alien planets will regularly feature cacti.
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205[[folder:Webcomics]]
206%% * In ''Webcomic/{{Huckleberry}}'', cacti frequently show up in the desertic background of outdoors panels.
207* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' has a big, sandy, Sahara-like desert on the Western Continent with camels, giant sandworms and [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0692.html at one instance]], a cactus.
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211* The [[AprilFoolsDay "Pirates' Treasures"]] version of Google Maps use cactus to indicate deserts -- even Arabian Desert and Gobi Desert.
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214[[folder:Western Animation]]
215* In ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', the episode Delorean Story shows Stan driving his son on the way to Albuquerque, with nothing but sand and saguaro cacti surrounding the road. In reality, they would have seen a few forests along the way considering at least 5 climate zones exist around Albuquerque.
216* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' is set in a mythological Asian-esque land. In episode "The Desert", Sokka finds and drinks from a cactus which gets him [[IntoxicationEnsues high on cactus juice]]. The cactus itself is the only one they ever see among the miles and miles of sand dunes that make up the rest of the desert.
217%% * ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'': The only time in the series a desert is scene, it involves a lot of cacti.
218* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'': An episode set in the Mojave Desert inevitably includes saguaros as part of its landscape. In one case, the keycard lock for accessing an ElaborateUndergroundBase is hidden in a fake cactus.
219* ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'': In "[[Recap/ReadyJetGoS2E21MoonCircusEveryDayIsEarthDay Every Day Is Earth Day]]", the gang flies around Earth to find out what makes it special, and Sean mentions that deserts have cacti in them.
220* ''WesternAnimation/WildKratts'': In "Koala Balloon", the brothers cut up a prickly pear cactus to hydrate the [[MisplacedWildlife equally out-of-place]] young koala they find lost in the Outback desert. Excusable in that prickly pear is an invasive species in Australia, although the Kratts don't comment on this.
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223[[folder:Real Life]]
224* In deserts and other arid regions of southern Africa there are plants of the genus ''Euphorbia'', in the family Euphorbiaceae, that look suspiciously similar to cacti but are ''not'' related to cacti ''at all''. They are more closely related to poinsettias than cacti. The two families independently evolved multiple similar forms to adapt to similar niches (barrel-shaped forms, saguaro-shaped forms, ocotillo-shaped forms, etc.) The difference isn't trifling; euphorbia sap is irritating and mildly toxic, so you can't use them for food or water in the desert the way you might rely on most cacti.
225* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhipsalis_baccifera Rhipsalis baccifera]] is a cactus that grows in Africa and Sri Lanka. How it managed to get there while all other cacti are found in the Americas is unknown. As it can also be found in the Americas, it's possible that its seeds were spread across oceans by birds, or that its presence in Africa is actually that of an introduced species that was carried by European trade ships.
226* Human activity has spread cacti to Hawaii, Australia, and the Mediterranean, giving filmmakers more leeway when depicting desert environments in North Africa or the Outback. Especially the Outback, where introduced cactus species are considered a weed.
227* The inversion of this trope is ''also'' a minor trope, i.e. the notion that cacti grow ''only'' in deserts. But the Andes Mountains are one of the three main epicenters of cactus diversity, and there are whole tribes of climbing or epiphytic cacti that grow ''in trees'' in the coastal woodlands of Brazil, Bolivia, and Central America.
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