Aster Family White Sands NM Oct. 1, 2008 This plant was growing near the parking lot behind the visitor center. The tiny white flowers had a strong, unpleasant aroma and were covered with flies, moths, butterflies, wasps, and many other insects. I liked this little fly!
Alamogordo, NM Sept. 30, 2008 This plant grew everywhere along the roadsides and in the desert. It had a very strong aroma that really got my allergies going! Many people complained about these flowers! They are quite pretty though and the insects loved them.
This is not a great photo, (I took it in a dark exhibit room at the White Sands Visitor Center) but it gives an idea of how the Tularosa Valley, where White Sands is located, formed. The valley (low middle section) was once a huge dome that collapsed 10 million years ago. The Sacramento Mountains are on the right side of the exhibit, they are 1000 feet higher than the San Andreas mountains on the left side. We saw the bands of rocks as we drove along the highways near Alamogordo. Some bands were horizontal, others were nearly vertical, proof of the incredible upheaval the area once underwent.
