Ocotillo Fonquieria splendens


Range:

Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts of southeast California to west Texas and south into Mexico.


Habitat: Open, stony, well-drained desert slopes below 5,000 feet.


Flowers: Red flowers are 1/2 to 1 inch in length, with five short lobes curled back into 10-inch clusters. They appear at the ends of branches March through June or later, depending on rainfall.


Description:The Ocotillo is a bajada resident that can be relied on to bloom annually, even without leafing in particularly dry springs. It is an inverted, funnel-shaped desert plant with several woody, spiny, whip-like, straight branches angling outward from the base and rising as high as 20 feet.


Ocotillo are leafless most of the year, except immediately after rain; the leaves then quickly wither after the soil dries out. These narrow, oval leaves are about 2 inches long, appearing in bunches above spines. Mature plants have as many as 75 slender branches (canes). Planted in rows, Ocotillo become living fences.


Members of the Ocotillo Family (Foquieriaceae); there are 11 species of the Foquieria genus, most of which occur in Mexico. The Ocotillo is the northernmost of these species. The Boojum Tree (F. columnaris) is a close relative occurring in Baja.


Other names for the Ocotillo include:

  Candlewood

  Slimwood

  Coachwhip

  Vine Cactus

  Flamingsword

  Jacob's Staff


It is not necessary to dig up the whole plant to get one of these plants, as they readily root from a cut off stem. All you have to do is cut off a portion of one of the stems and stick it in the ground or a pot.

Some of the specimens of Ocotillo that you see out here are hundreds of years old.

It would really be a shame to dig one up.    

       Art Worley