The Roots That Never Stop Reaching

In the Sonoran Desert of Arizona, the mesquite tree appears unremarkable — a twisted trunk, sparse leaves, standing in soil so dry it cracks like broken pottery. But beneath the surface, something extraordinary is happening. The mesquite sends its roots down — not five feet, not twenty, but over 150 feet into the earth, pressing past rock and calcium hardpan and layers ofite deposits, reaching toward water it cannot see but somehow knows is there.…