What is a desert rose ?

Rose-like crystal clusters of minerals such as gypsum and barite which include abundant sand grains. In fact, the crystals commonly form in arid, desert environments such as the evaporation of a shallow salt basin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_rose_(crystal)

Examples of different sizes

The roses vary from sharply defined gypsum centimeters wide to less well defined barite roses a few mm wide. Example of the latter are shown in desert sandstones (Leman Sandstone, North Sea) in Fig. 1. High concentrations of roses in the coarser sandstones from the same formation (but from a different field) are shown in Fig. 2. Barite roses up to 5 cm wide are shown on Fig. 3 from the Permian Hopeman Sandstone, Inner Moray Firth, UK. In some parts of this outcrop, barite is spatially related to fractures suggesting that it was introduced through fractures.

Figure 1. Desert roses (circled on right) in sandstone (Rotliegende age) from well 49/26-1 in the Southern North Sea
https://largeimages.bgs.ac.uk/iip/index.html?id=20110615/E00000504
*British Geological Survey © UKRI*

Figure 2. Desert roses in sandstone rubble from a cored well in the North Sea.
**From North Sea Core collection** https://www.northseacore.co.uk/

Figure 3. Large desert roses (few cms wide) in the Permian Hopeman Sandstone, onshore Moray Firth.

Conclusions

Desert roses are crystals of gypsum or barite that often form in sandy, arid environments as a result of evaporation in shallow basins
These can range from gypsum crystals with sharply defined edges and centimeters across to pea-sized barite roses.
Barite roses are commonly observed in core in the Permian Leman Sandstone Fm in the North Sea