Carrizozo Malpais

Between the towns of Socorro and Carrizozo, New Mexico, there is an ancient lava flow, referred to as the Malpais or literally, Bad-Land.  Imagine the early explorers coming up from Mexico and wondering how they would get across this:

We had to get Colter and Alli to the airport really early on Friday morning, so we got an early start for going back south to Cloudcroft.  We stopped at the Malpai State Park; since it was 8 a.m. and still cool, we decided to walk the trail through it.  Even in this desolate landscape there are plants that manage to eek out an existence.  Here are some of the things we saw.

By the way, we had a very nice sandal-friendly trail through  it!

Soaptree Yucca

The spines of Yucca are smooth except for this curling fiber, but the pointed tips are like daggers.

This one was in bud, with the pods not quite developed.

Another desert plant that sort of looks like yucca is Sotol.  The edges of the spines are toothed and it has a different kind of flower spike.  There were a lot of Sotol plants for us to see the difference.  It is also called Desert Spoon.

last year's flower stalk, Sotol

Yucca and Sotol are both in the Lily family.  So it wasn't a surprise to see that there is a desert version of Beargrass.  We saw several "grass" clumps and last year's flower stalk, but none in bloom now.

Beargrass; Nolina texana

Of course there were lots of cactus varieties:

Prickly Pear; the blooms were done and the "pears" were emerging.

I thought this one was interesting with the red spines.

Cholla

Cholla

Hedgehog cactus

 There were lots of shrubs that are drought resistant.  Hopefully I don't mis-name them.

Mesquite

Algeria; the leaves are shaped like tiny holly.

Mormon Tea, Ephedra

Four-winged Saltbush

couldn't find a match to identify this one, but it had a beautiful green color

Juniper tree; the desert's bonzai

 Not surprisingly we didn't see many flowers, but there were a few.

This is either Paperdaisy (Psilostrophe cooperi) or Wild Zinnia (Zinnia grandiflora).

Thread-leaf Groundsel

I think this is some type of Gromwell.

 Along the road between Carrizozo and Tularosa we saw these Indian Blanket Flower.

Gaillardia pulchella