Imagine, you are walking in Oklahoma. It is hot and the area around you is dry and mainly bare. There is not enough water for too many plants to grow. It is still beautiful though, and although there may not be typical plants and flowers, there are some which are more unusual - the desert rose rock. These beautiful rocks look like clusters of blooming roses, and with their beautiful shades of red and brown, they provide plenty of interest on you walk!
When I took this desert rose rock specimen to show the children, they were amazed. They have seen many and varied specimens of rocks and minerals but, as one child put it "none so pretty shaped".To them, rocks can be beautiful colours and interesting shapes, but to see one which seemed to be covered with delicate petals and flowers was amazing. They could understand the names given to the rock, and admire the shapes of the formations, but what surprised them most though was the weight and feel of the rock. As one child said "it looks so delicate, but it weighs a ton and those petals are sharp!"
The desert rose, also known as flower of the desert, rose rock and sand rose, is a type of mineral which is only found in hot, dry places. Rock roses are found in several arid areas of the world including Egypt, Libya, Mexico and California. However, it is Oklahoma which is perhaps most firmly associated with this type of rock with the barite rock rose being named the state rock in 1968. There are two rocks which form the basis for the rose rock. The first is barite, which is the base of the Oklahoma State Rock, and the other is a type of gypsum called selenite. The gypsum is very soft and easily scratched, broken or destroyed, but either of the forms is delicate. In fact, when the rose rocks rise to the surface of the desert they must be collected quickly as water and wind quickly erode the beautiful crystal petals.
Being such a beautiful rock, the rose rock is popular with collectors. The rock which is so famous in Oklahoma was formed 250 million years ago, during the permian age when oceans covered much of the land. The rock formed when the mineral barite precipitated out of the water and crystalised around tiny grains of another rock, quartz (or in other words, around grains of sand). Although the rock rose is indeed rock, the crystal formations often appear like the petals of a rose, hence the name 'rose rock'.