We propose an algorithm for texture segmentation based on a divide-and-conquerstrategy of statistical modeling.Selectedsets of Gaussianclusters,estimated via ExpectationMaximization on thetexture features, aregrouped together to form compositetextureclasses.Ourclustergroupingtechniqueexploits the inherent localspatialcorrelationamongposterior distributions of clusters belonging to the same texture class.Despiteitssimplicity,thisalgorithm canmodel even very complex distributions, typicalof natural outdoor images.