[Illustration: Fouquieria splendens]
Common names: OCOTILLO, SLIMWOOD, COACHWHIP, CANDLEWOOD, FLAMINGSWORD
Arizona, California and Texas deserts: (_Fouquieria splendens_).
Bright red. April-May.
Ocotillo family. Size: Up to 15 feet tall.
One of the few flower families restricted to the desert, the unique
Ocotillo (oh-koh-TEE-oh) with its long, unbranching stems is found on
rocky hillsides below 5,000 feet from western Texas to southern
California and south into Mexico. It is one of the commonest, queerest,
and most spectacular of desert plants, especially when the tips of its
long, slender stems seem afire with dense clusters of bright red
blossoms. Following rains, leaves clothe the thorny stems with green,
but after the soil becomes dry, the leaves turn brown and fall. The
heavily thorned stems are covered with green bark which takes over the
functions of leaves during periods of drought. The plant thus becomes
semi-dormant during hot dry periods and, in sections of the desert
visited by showers, may go through this cycle several times during a
year.
Because of its sharp thorns, strangers to the desert may think that the
Ocotillo is one of the Cacti, but it is more closely related to both the
Violet and the Tamarix than to the Cacti.
Stems of the Ocotillo are used by natives in building huts. They are
sometimes cut and, when planted close together in rows, take root and
form living fences and corrals.