This flower that blooms on the sand is also called “sand food”, the reason for this name is because they look like dishes made from sand, with tiny, beautiful purple flowers on top. delicate and strange.

The scientific name of this strange sand flower is Pholisma sonorae, a rare and exotic flower belonging to a family of flowering plants endemic to the deserts of North America.

Pholisma sonorae sand flower is also considered a perennial herb, growing from sand dunes with extremely long roots, reaching 2m deep below the ground to absorb water and nutrients, the flower bush growing above is shaped like Flat spherical shape, can also have a mushroom shape like in the photo if the wind in the desert is strong enough to blow away the sand blocks surrounding the body of Pholisma sonorae.

During early spring, this rounded tip of the rare sandflower Pholisma sonorae will sprout tiny flowers, about 1 to 2cm in diameter, with a very prominent purple-white color.

As a heterotrophic plant, Pholisma sonorae sandflower lacks chlorophyll to grow, so in order to survive, it has extended its tough roots to cling to the roots of many desert plants to absorb nutrients.

However, they are friendly flowers that do not drain all nutrients from the host plant. Although there are cases where Pholisma sonorae flowers are larger and heavier than the host plant, the host plant does not wither or die.

Notably, young Pholisma sonorae flower plants have the ability to find suitable host plant roots for parasitic life even when the plant roots have penetrated deep into the sand layer by growing a number of new, specialized young roots to perform the task. “Reconnaissance”.

When finding a suitable host plant root, these scout roots will grow suckers, automatically connect, and absorb nutrients such as starch and amino acids that have been synthesized by the host plant from photosynthesis.

This plant maintains its species through dispersal of seeds by the wind. The wind continuously blowing through the rolling dunes will sweep away the seeds mixed in the sand, helping them travel everywhere, underground or underground. clinging to the bodies of some rodent species whose habit is to dig deep nests beneath shrubs.

Because it is an endemic plant, Pholisma sonorae can currently only be found in a few locations such as: Algodones Dunes, southeastern California, near Arizona, USA, and Sonora, Mexico. Pholisma sonorae is classified as a rare plant because its habitat has been greatly reduced.