Vegetation

Vegetation refers to the amount of plants, herbs, trees, bushes and other wildlife in the world. Out of the wastelands explored in the Fallout series (eg. Core Region), vegetation is rare and exists in the rare form of cacti and small weeds. This is because of the nuclear winters and nuclear bomb dropping making the sands of the earth an inhospitable place.

Core Region
In the aforementioned Core Region, vegetation is rare due to the amount of nuclear missiles dropped. This makes any herbs, trees or wildlife found precious to some, though worthless to others. However, by the time of Fallout 2 vegetation and wildlife have become common with many plants and herbs becoming available. However, they are by no means healthy as some will attack wanderers and some are poisonous.

Areas like Shady Sands and Vault City, however, have managed to reintroduce wildlife such as bushes, trees and grass to the wasteland. Vault City did so with their G.E.C.K, how the New California Republic managed to do so is currently unknown.

The only pure water source in the Core Region is the Colorado River, which after flowing from the Mojave Wasteland, enters Baja California and California, both part of the Core Region and both part of the NCR. A reason why plants may have started growing more abundantly in the Core Region in the recent past is due to the discovery of the Colorado River and a source of pure water.

However, due to wordings about the Core Region, the only true ecological parts are Arroyo, Shady Sands and Vault City, making it the least ecologically developed wasteland.

Mojave Wasteland
Due to no bombs being dropped directly at the Mojave Wasteland, plants are not uncommon. A wide variety of cacti, flowers and herbs live around the Mojave Wasteland. In New Vegas itself there is a wide variety of different plants as well as farms (Sharecropper Farms) located on the outside. In fact, in some areas, plants thrive so much that in one vault, its citizens have become part plant and attack any wanderers into the vault.

The Mojave Wasteland contains the Colorado River which then further flows into the Core Region. A reason why plants grow more abundantly in the Mojave Wasteland than any other wasteland is partly due to House, the NCR and the Legion's access to the source of pure water. Due to this, the Mojave Wasteland is the most ecologically developed wasteland.

Capital Wasteland
The Capital Wasteland is a wasteland that stretches from Raven Rock to Rivet City and also comprises of the ruins of Washington D.C, the Pitt and Point Lookout. While areas like Point Lookout may have large quantities of vegetation, most of it is mutated and unsafe for wanderers, travelers and those looking to make communities. However, the bulk of the Capital Wasteland, which is largely inhospitable, though it does contain some plants and a large forest grove which is home to the Treelanders, has now gained access to the Potomac River which has recently been purified. With this, the Brotherhood of Steel will likely add more vegetation or let it grow on its own. The Pitt, however, is seemingly incurable with no traces of vegetation whatsoever and with water in its river that seems to be far from pure, though a similar treatment as done on the Potomac would make it somewhat less mutated. The Capital Wasteland seems to have a mix of vegetation between the Core Region and the Mojave Wasteland.