Fouquieria

 ( Ericales Genera ) 

Fouquieria is a genus of 11 species of desert Flowering plant, 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 leaf on the bases of the spikes. They are unrelated to cactus and do not look much like them; their stems are proportionately thinner than cactus stems and their leaves are larger.

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Taxonomy

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Taxonomic history Fouquieria species do not have a particularly close resemblance to any other sort of plants; genetic evidence has shown they belong in the Ericales. Before this, they had been variously placed in the Violales or their own order, Fouquieriales.

The Seri people identify three species of Fouquieria in their area of Mexico: jomjéeziz or xomjéeziz ( F. splendens), jomjéeziz caacöl ( F. diguetii, Baja California tree ocotillo), and cototaj ( F. columnaris, boojum).

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Etymology The genus is named after French physician Pierre Fouquier (1776-1850).

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Ecology Fouquieria shrevei is endemism 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 or . Fouquieria diguetii is host to a peacock mite, Tuckerella eloisae.

The spines of Fouquieria develop in an unusual way, from a woody thickening on the outer (lower) side of the leaf petiole, which remains after the leaf blade and most of the petiole separate and fall from the plant.W. J. Robinson, 1904. The spines of Fouquieria. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 31(1):45–50

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Distribution and habitat These plants are native to northern Mexico and the bordering United States states of Arizona, southern California, New Mexico, and parts of southwestern Texas, favoring low, arid hillsides.

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Species , the following species are accepted:

Mexico (E. Baja California Sur)

Mexico (C. Baja California, NW. Sonora)

Mexico (Baja California, CW. Sonora)

Mexico (S. Hidalgo)

Mexico (Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Puebla, Morelos, Michoacán, México State, Distrito Federal, Jalisco)

Mexico (C. Guerrero)

Mexico (Sonora, Sinaloa, W. Chihuahua)

Mexico (SW. Puebla, NW. Oaxaca)

Mexico (S. Puebla, N. Oaxaca)

Mexico (W. Coahuila)

United States (southern California, southern Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas), and northern Mexico (as far south as Hidalgo and Guerrero).

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External links

• Fouquieriaceae in L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The families of flowering plants.

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