One of the most beautiful inhabitants of the dry rocky slopes of the mountain.
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This is the rockrose, her delicate looks belying the harsh desiccating environment.
The petals always remind me of the rumpled silk dress of a forgotten Moorish queen.
Indeed the scent that pervades the hillside would not be out of place in the 1001 Nights, or the temples of Scheherazade.
The rockrose even has the genie like quality of being the first plant to reemerge after the great fires that can sweep this region. The pink blooms are often the first sign that life is returning to the charred and ravaged landscape.
So I nod respect to this phoenix like queen and pass on my way as the heat of summer starts to build in shimmering mirages across the mountain.
Photo: Cistus albidus. Courtesy of the author