Carol Oover, age 11, of Tulsa, Okla., for her question:

Does nature form reddish brown rose shaped rocks?

These amazing little stones are indeed formed by nature. If you search through the sandy stretches of Oklahoma, chances are you will find one or perhaps several of them. The stone is rosy pink or rusty red. Its rings of thick, rosy petals look as though some child had modeled them of clay. Often the stone has two of these rocky roses, stuck together back to back.

The flowery stone is modeled by nature from barite, a mineral compound of the elements sulfur, barium and oxygen. Its particles have a shape of their own, and this shape directs the form that barite takes in masses and crystals. Under certain conditions m01ecules of barite gather together in these pretty little stones called desert roses.