Desert bloom

DESERT BLOOM The vast Atacama Desert in Chile is one of the driest places in the world, with very little rainfall. The bare, baked ground appears bleak and lifeless. When it rains, however, millions of flowering plants, such as these purple pussy-paws, spring up and transform the land into a carpet of color. These short-lived plants, or “ephemerals,” grow from seeds that have long lain dormant in the earth.

Desert ephemerals are plants that live fast and die young. Once the right conditions have triggered their explosion of growth, they have a few weeks, or often just days, to complete their life cycle. Ephemerals are usually small and short. Growing tall takes time and energy, and desert plants have none to spare. They must make the most of their short season by producing flowers and setting seed very quickly. With the return of drought, the ephemerals disappear as fast as they came. They leave behind their scattered seeds, safely hidden in cracks in the parched ground, where they sit out the tough times until the next rain. It may be a very long wait.