Common to all of the deserts crossed by the boundary between the United
States and Mexico, ocotillo (oh-koh-TEE-yoh) is a spectacular shrub, its
many long, stiff, green-barked and thorn-guarded stems bearing at their
tips clusters of bright red flowers from April to June. Following rains,
the stems cover themselves with clusters of bright green leaves. When
drought comes these leaves are shed, to be renewed again after another
rain. This procedure may be repeated half a dozen times in one year.
Cahuilla Indians eat both flowers and seeds, and make a beverage by
soaking the blossoms in water. When planted as hedgerows the thorny
wands make an impenetrable fence.
_Fouquieria splendens_ Ocotillo Family
[Illustration: OCOTILLO]