A cactus with rose-colored spines near Death Valley, CA
About this photograph
- Creator
- Margery H. Freeman
- Date created
- March 1973
- Location
- Death Valley, California
- License
- This photograph copyright ©1973. All Rights Reserved
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- Search LEARN NC for arid, badlands, Badwater Basin, cacti, California, Death Valley, Death Valley National Park, deserts, dry, erosion, lowest point, mesquite, mountains, pines, plants, rain, rainstorm, salt, salt flats, succulent, and wildflower.
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A cactus with rose-colored spines and green flesh near Death Valley, California. Though the surrounding Mojave Desert is rich with cacti and other succulent species, they are a fairly rare sight in Death Valley due to the extreme heat and salinity of much of the park’s soil. Even so, the park is host to several succulent species, including pickleweed, which is salt tolerant and can grow below sea level. Most other species grow at an elevation of 400 feet above sea level and up. Despite the park’s image as a lifeless wasteland, it supports at least 1,000 different plant species, including bristlecone pine, mesquite bushes, and fleeting wildflowers.
Death Valley National Park is located east of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. It is home to the lowest point in North America at Badwater, which is 282 feet below sea level, but it also encompasses parts of several mountain ranges. Its highest point is Telescope Peak, at 11,049 feet. Located in an rainshadow exaggerated by the presence of four major mountain ranges between it and the ocean, Death Valley receives less than two inches of rainfall a year and is famous as one of the hottest and driest places in North America. Summer temperatures often hover around 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
