History Main / AllDesertsHaveCacti

An 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 extremes. Desert landscapes have a tendency to fluctuate in temperature, meaning that someone traveling through the desert could potentially have to worry about heatstroke and hypothermia within the same 24-hour period.

Probably a result of either ArtisticLicenseGeography or CaliforniaDoubling due to lacking the budget to film on location elsewhere.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}'' 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.

* ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'': In the second movie, 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.

* ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheMiracleMask'': The desert has cacti, despite being in the UK. Although that's the least of the problems with its location.

* ''LightNovel/IriyaNoSoraUFONoNatsu'' uses the "all deserts are sandy wastelands" variation to portray Nevada, complete with a raging sandstorm.

* ''VideoGame/{{Bug}}'' has is a desert level, and there ''are'' saguaro cacti. However, the level ''is'' based off the Arizona Desert, so it fits.

* In ''VideoGame/ClickerHeroes'', you tend to face Caperticus enemies in the Drylands and the desert areas.

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', being set in the Mojave, features agaves, barrel cacti and prickly pears that will constitute 95% of the Courier's diet. No saguaros, happily.

* ''VideoGame/FreddiFish 4: The Case of the Hogfish Rustlers of Briny Gulch'' takes place in the Old West, so of course it has loads of cacti.

* ''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.
* ''VideoGame/{{Iconoclasts}}'': The Shard Wastelands are a desert area with plenty of cacti seen in the background.

* Some of the Wind forests of ''VideoGame/JadeCocoon 2'' still contain your stereotypical cacti.
* ''VideoGame/Jak3Wastelander'' has cacti spread throughout the Wasteland.
* 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.

* ''VideoGame/LastDream'': The Oasis, Dry Gulch and the Southern Desert all feature plenty of cacti.

** ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'': There are cacti in enemy battles in the desert. These are only one-armed, though.
** ''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'').

* ''VideoGame/TheMagicSchoolBus Explores the World of Animals'' justifies its use of saguaro cacti by having its desert biome actually be in the Sonoran Desert. There are also a couple of prickly pear cacti for variety. ''Inside the Earth'' averts this trope by having its canyon area be in a desert with no cacti.

* ''VideoGame/PuttPutt Travels Through Time'' has cacti in the Old West time period.
* ''VideoGame/RelicRPG'': The Terra Desert is ''full'' of Cacti.

* ''VideoGame/TimeZone'', a Famicom PlatformGame, has cacti in its Wild West zone. Some of them are anthropomorphic and [[EverythingTryingToKillYou trying to kill you]].

* ''VideoGame/ToejamAndEarl'': The first game has [[QuicksandSucks sand]], mostly in later levels, which nearly always comes with cacti.

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', cacti and a tumbleweed are used in a [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/balance-034 visual]] to indicate emptiness.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Huckleberry}}'', cacti frequently show up in the desertic background of outdoors panels.

* ''Webcomic/PoisonIvyGulch'': Some strips are shown having Saguaro cacti in the background as shorthand for said background being desert. Justified as this is a Western.
* ''Webcomic/WallyAndOsborne'': Wally [[http://wallyandosborne.com/2005/12/02/cowboys-sunset has made snow ones in Antarctica while imitating a cowboy.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'': The only time in the series a desert is scene, it involves a lot of cacti.

* ''Literature/TheMagicSchoolBus'': Justified, because they actually go to an American desert.

* ''WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner'', naturally, features plenty of cacti in the desert landscapes the Coyote chases the Road Runner across. Justified in that they take place in the American Southwest, where cacti are indigenous.

** 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]] ''[[TruthInTelevision are]]'' [[TruthInTelevision deserts]].

* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'': In the MushroomSamba episode, 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 terraformed into a desert typical of the American southwest, complete with cacti.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

** Strangely 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.

** Cacnea go rolling down sand dunes in the desert area of ''VideoGame/NewPokemonSnap''.

The entire family of Cactaceae is exclusive to the Americas in its native range -- yes, even in high-altitude and colder areas.[[note]]The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhipsalis_baccifera mistletoe cactus]] is the one exception: it can be found in Africa and Sri Lanka.[[/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).

* ''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]]. However, the cactus turns out to be the only one they ever see along the way.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': The main portion of Gerudo Desert has saguaro-style cactuses, despite the resident Gerudo tribe being based on MiddleEast motifs.

* ''VideoGame/{{Starbound}}'' has cacti in the desert, but this is perhaps justified because the game takes place [[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE]]!

** In ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'', there are cacti in enemy battles in the desert. These are only one-armed, though.
** The Gerudo Desert in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'' 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'').
** The version of Gerudo Desert from ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'' has saguaro-style cactuses.

* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'': In the MushroomSamba episode, the crew runs out of fuel and crash-lands on Europa, a moon of Jupiter. The series often pays homage [[SpaceWestern to its roots]], and this part of Europa just so happens to have been terraformed into a desert typical of the American southwest, complete with cacti.

* ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheMiracleMask'': The desert has cacti, despite being in the UK. Although that's the least of the problems with it being in the UK.
-->'''Luke''': That's a cactus, isn't it? [[{{Understatement}} You don't see many of those round London]].

%%Also, this page's examples section is sorted alphabetically. It would be lovely if you'd maintain this when adding new examples, thanks.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook'': 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.

* Creator/MariaMuldaur's "Midnight at the Oasis" is full of ArabianNightsDays imagery, but also says "Cactus is our friend".

* 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.

* ''Webcomic/PoisonIvyGulch'': Some strips are shown having Saguaro cacti in the background as shorthand for said background being desert. Justified as this is a Western.

* 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.

* ''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.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Rimworld}}'', cacti replace trees as the default source of wood in Deserts.

* ''WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner'', naturally, features plenty of cacti in the desert landscapes the coyote chases the roadrunner across. Justified in that they take place in the American Southwest, where cacti are indigenous.