The Fouquieriaceae
Ocotillo Family

The ocotillo family is a small one of only 11 species restricted to the warm-arid section of North America. Members of this family are odd-looking plants, some even bizarre. They are characterized by spiny stems with bundles of seasonal leaves at each spine. Clusters of oval green leaves are produced in response to rains and shed quickly when conditions become unfavourable. A few species are stem succulents, the rest barely semisucculent. The fouquierias have a curious parallel with the Didiereaceae. The few species of this exclusively Madagascan family closely resemble some of the ocotillos in growth habit, differing from them in growing much larger and having succulent leaves. The didiereas are distantly related to the cacti and not at all to the ocotillos, so this is an example of convergent evolution.

The genus is native to the deserts of western North America and includes the ocotillo (F. splendens) and the Boojum tree or cirio (F. columnaris).

The genus is named after French physician Pierre Fouquier (1776-1850) a physician and professor of medicine.

Photo of ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens) by Ken Schneider, iNaturalist