A very small family, with one genus and only a few species; natives
of the Southwest and Mexico; the flowers are brilliant red, in
terminal clusters; the sepals five, not united; the petals five,
united into a tube, the lobes somewhat spreading; the stamens ten to
fifteen, protruding, inserted under the pistil; the ovary imperfectly
three-celled; the styles three, long, somewhat united; the seeds three
to six, oblong, flattened, surrounded by a membranous wing or long,
white hairs. These plants are very puzzling, but interesting, and as
they are not nearly related they have at various times been classified
with other families.
[Sidenote: =Flaming Sword, Ocotillo, Candle Flower=
_Fouquièra spléndens_
=Red
Spring
Ariz., Cal., New Mex.=]
A magnificent desert shrub, when in full bloom, but strangely
forbidding in aspect in spite of its beauty. Its many stiff stems, from
six to twenty feet tall, entirely without branches, stand up stiffly
from the root, like a bunch of wands, and are armed their whole length
with terrible thorns, which in the spring are masked with beautiful
foliage, like little apple leaves. From the tip of each wand springs a
glorious cluster, from six to ten inches long, composed of hundreds of
scarlet flowers, each about an inch long, and crowded closely together,
suggesting a flame and waving to and fro in the wind with a startling
effect against the pale desert sand. When the flowers and leaves are
gone, the clumps of dry, thorny sticks look quite dead and it is hard
to believe that they were so splendid early in the season. They make an
impenetrable fence and are much used by the Indians for hedges.
[Illustration: Flaming Sword--Fouquiera splendens.]