• Vascular plants have separate systems for transporting water and food.desert plants image by Carol Tomalty from Fotolia.com
  
  In 1985, botanist Duffie Clemons compiled the "Checklist of Vascular Plants of the Anza Borrego Desert." The checklist names more than 800 species of vascular plants that grow in the desert, and was compiled at the behest of the San Diego Chapter of the California Native Plant Society and the Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association. In 2006, naturalist Tom Chester updated this list. The list divides the vascular plants of the Anza Borrego Desert into four categories.
  
  

Ferns and Fern Allies

• Clemons and Chester identify 27 species of vascular ferns and fern allies present in the Anza Borrego Desert. These plants fall into nine families, among which are fern, cypress, ephedra and bracken. The official website of the Ohio State University biological greenhouse facility explains how ferns and fern allies---in other words, related species---are different from other plants. Neither ferns nor fern allies produce flowers, fruits or seeds. The plants reproduce using spores. Species living in the Borrego Desert include Ephedra aspera, Adiantum capillus-veneris and Woodwardia fimbriata.
  
  

Conifers

• There are three species of vascular conifers living in the desert as of Chester's 2006 revision of the Checklist. These species are Pinus monophylla or piñon pine, Pinus quadrifolia or Parry piñon pine and Pseudotsuga macrocarpa or big cone spruce. As defined by the online resource Backyard Nature, a conifer is any plant that bears cones. Many species of conifer, such as pine, fir, hemlock and spruce, have needles instead of leaves, and are evergreen.
  
  

Dicots

• Dicots are far and away the largest category of vascular plants present on the Checklist. Duffie and Chester list 734 species of dicots living in the Anza Borrego Desert. The University of California Berkeley defines a dicot as a flowering plant with two cotyledons. A cotyledon is part of a plant's embryo that grows into a special type of leaf. The largest family of vascular dicots present in the Anza Borrego Desert is the sunflower family. There are 125 species of sunflower plants in the desert. Species of dicots on the Checklist include Xylorhiza orcuttii, Pectocarya setosa and Lotus hamatus.
  
  

Monocots

• The Checklist states that there are 100 species of vascular monocots present in the Anza Borrego Desert, representing eight families of monocots. The grass family is the most represented family of monocots. Of the 100 species of monocots present in the desert, 58 are grass. A monocot is a flowering plant similar to the dicot, defined by the University of California Berkeley as having only one cotyledon. Vascular Anza Borrego Desert monocots include Poa bigelovii or Bigelow's blue grass, Zannichellia palustris or horned pondweed and Eleocharis rostellata or beaked spikerush.