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Ocotillo

Fouquieria

Ocotillo
Photo: Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0
Family
Fouquieriaceae (Fouquieri family)
Grows as
Tree, Succulent

About

Fouquieria is a genus of 11 species of desert flowering plants, the sole genus in the family Fouquieriaceae. The genus is native to North America and includes the ocotillo (F. splendens) and the Boojum tree or cirio (F. columnaris). They have semi succulent stems with thinner spikes projecting from them, with leaves on the bases of the spikes. They are unrelated to cacti and do not look much like them; their stems are proportionately thinner than cactus stems and their leaves are larger.

Where it grows

Fouquieria shrevei is endemic to the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin in Mexico, and is unusual in possessing vertical resinous wax bands on the stems, and exhibits gypsophily, the ability to grow on soils with a high concentration of gypsum. It has aromatic white flowers and is presumed to be moth-pollinated. Other species in the genus with orange or red flowers are pollinated by hummingbirds or carpenter bees. Fouquieria diguetii is host to a peacock mite, Tuckerella eloisae.

Other Fouquieria plants

Pichilingue · Boojum tree · Adam's tree · Fouquieria fasciculata · Fouquieria formosa · Fouquieria shrevei · Ocotillo

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Fouquieria by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.

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