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[PatrikLundell]

My embark is in a sand desert with a rain fall of 1 (that's what the PSV is set to, anyway) which resulted in sparse tree growth and sparse ground cover. This is what I saw on embark. However, after cutting down all the trees and collecting all the herbs, no saplings and no new herbs show up after more than two years (and no saplings were present on embark). While this world is generated with the experimental 0.42.04 64 bit Windows version, I encountered the same thing (at least regarding trees, can't vouch for the herbs) with 0.42.05, with no saplings after about 7 years. Using a dirt road, I've confirmed normal ground cover recovers. A single tile deep channeled area gets (almost) covered by ground cover, but no herbs, just as a no vegetation desert one does.
So, is this failure to regrow a feature of low rain fall embarks, or is it a bug?

It's sort of neat not to have to prune the surface of trees while still get some surface wood on embark, but on the other hand I like to have a modest feather tree supply, and a this kind of deserts have such a sparse ground cover that the risk of a treesplosion with the normal behavior seems to be small.

[Pirate Santa]

Could be a case of no species having deserts as an allowed biome?

Don't play deserts so I can't say for sure.

[PatrikLundell]

No. I mostly play in non vegetation supporting deserts/badlands with a single tile outside of that to get some trees and herbs, but avoid treesplosion. That usually works, and outdoor farming works as expected in this desert as well: I was able to collect about 6 different kinds of herbs, 3 of which were booze producing, and thus kept for farming, which works just fine.
Normally deserts with sparse vegetation are just that: a fair bit of exposed sand, but a few trees (or not, as per the pre embark info), and some herbs. They usually regrow, i.e. saplings appear, as well as scattered herbs. In a no vegetation desert/badland neither saplings nor herbs grow in channeled soil, but that soil is covered by grass eventually (allowing grazing) while the surface itself remains barren (naturally). If vegetation is supported, I normally get herbs and saplings (again, if trees are supported) in my recessed courtyard as well as on the surface.

Edit:
Some observations/science concerning a desert based on PSV rainfall painting (I don't know how to find what's actually used, though):
Rainfall = 0: Seems to result in a vegetation less desert
Rainfall = 1: Resulted in "sparse" for both herbs and trees, but neither trees nor herbs regrew. Grass like ground cover regrew.
Rainfall = 3 & 4: Sparse herbs and trees. No saplings, but herbs regrow.
Rainfall = 5: Still sparse. Sometimes saplings and sometimes not. Murky pools have been present, which should provide a chance for water dependent vegetation (such as e.g. sun and fisher berries), although I haven't seen any.

As an aside, it rains awfully often in a rainfall 1 desert based on the weather. Weather rainfall frequency is probably not coupled to the rainfall value (at least not tightly). Not that it's important.