Colitas

Featured in the song "Hotel California" by The Eagles, Colitas have been repeatedly defined by Don Henley and Don Felder as "desert flowers", the Colita de Rata, or Wild Buckwheat.

A perennial up to one foot 30.5 cm tall, favoring dry rocky slopes, Wild buckwheat has a basal whorl of grayish spoon-shaped leaves. Creamy white flowers form in clusters on the stem.

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair. Warm smell of colitas rising up through the air.

by SonoftheSands April 22, 2009