Stimulating desert flower
Fresh back from leading a tour to Morocco*, my lasting memories include vast dry plains flanked by the snow-capped Atlas mountains, crowded souqs and rooftop bars in Marrakesh, the amplified call to prayer (adnan) five times a day and the flowering spike of desert hyacinth ( Cistanche ). (Also argan tree and a few charmingly thorny dryland shrubs I might feature in future posts.) A few days into the tour we headed east from Marrakesh across the High Atlas at Tiz n'Tishka (having arrived in Marrakesh from Agadir via the more tortuous Tizi n'Test route) then inland via Ouarzazate and Tineghir. The land flattened and dried as we approach Merzouga on the western edge of the Sahara. Apart from the stunning topography and tenacious towns, there was a plant I couldn't get enough of, the desert hyacinth (or desert ginseng or desert broomrape). Last year, leading the same tour, I got excited as we crossed rivers and noticed among the native tamarisk clusters of bright yellow flowe...
