Ask a Ranger: Beauty can be found among the ashes

My name is Penstemon clutei. I am a rare and endemic wildflower, and I only grow on the volcanic cinders of Sunset Crater Volcano. I am dressed in bright pink tubular flowers. I come to life in the springtime from late April to early August when the weather is warm and all is bright. My leaves are waxy and serrate. My stems can reach up to 32 inches tall. I glow against my cinder home and add color to the fields around me.

Without volcanoes, I would never have formed. Here, my story begins with destruction.