Native to the Northern Chihuahua Desert

[rockm]

@Gabler, thanks. I'll keep this in mind. I have my eye on a couple I'd like to collect in about a month. Would it be safe to assume similar results for an evergreen?

It’s meh as far as bonsai material from personal observation. I used to live in the SW and am familiar with it. It’s also likely got weird root systems since it grows in such extreme environments. You’re also going to have to discover on your own what works and what doesn’t with the species. It’s mostly a complete unknown. Unless you know of a particularly notable trunked up example I’d look for a more likely species for bonsai.

 

[Desert O'Piñon]

It’s meh as far as bonsai material from personal observation.

Definitely unknown. If it can be done, I think a thick trunk would be the last thing to work on. The main features would have to be the gnarliness, the foliage, and probably the flowers. I am so new to bonsai that I still have to find myself in their style. I don't know if I prefer the rugged look, or the more graceful movement. Creosote has the rugged framework, but a gracefullness in the blossoms. It's definitely a contradiction.
This is the only photo I could find as a bonsai.

 

[ShadyStump]

I know many different species around here - north of this range but comparable climate - that grow as shrubs will often develop fatter "trunks" in the same way you'd see reverse taper develop in trees. Die back to the rhizome in hard times, then spring back from that in good times.

Arid shrubs almost all tend to have a strong lignous rhizome that stores resources. Often erosion will uncover the rhizome, forcing the plants to grow a new one lower, and the old rhizome often essentially converts into trunk.

These sorts I think you're going to have to learn to play games with the "inverse taper."