Fouquieria
From Free net encyclopedia
{{Taxobox
| color = lightgreen
| name = Fouquieria
| image = Ocotillo-400px.jpg
| image_width = 240px
| image_caption = Fouquieria splendens (Ocotillo)
| regnum = Plantae
| divisio = Magnoliophyta
| classis = Magnoliopsida
| ordo = Ericales
| familia = Fouquieriaceae
| familia_authority = DC.
| genus = Fouquieria
| genus_authority = Kunth
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision =
About 10, including:
Fouquieria columnaris
Fouquieria diguetii
Fouquieria splendens
several others
}}
Fouquieria is a genus of about 10 species of desert plants, the sole genus in the family Fouquieriaceae. The genus includes the Ocotillo (F. splendens) and the Boojum tree or Cirio (F. columnaris). They have succulent stems with thinner spikes projecting from them, with leaves on 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.
These plants are native to northern Mexico and the bordering US states of Arizona, southern California, New Mexico, and parts of southwestern Texas, favoring low, arid hillsides.
They do not have a particularly close resemblance to any other sort of plants; genetic evidence has shown that they belong in the Ericales. Prior to this, they had been variously placed in the Violales or their own order Fouquieriales.