Fouquieria

Taxobox
name = "Fouquieria"


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 = See text

"Fouquieria" is a genus of 11 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.

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).

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

Species of "Fouquieria"

*"Fouquieria burragei" Rose
*"Fouquieria columnaris" (Kellog) Kellog ex Curran
*"Fouquieria diguetii" (Tiegh.) I.M.Johnst.
*"Fouquieria fasciculata" Nash
*"Fouquieria formosa" Kunth
*"Fouquieria leonilae" Miranda
*"Fouquieria macdougalii" Nash
*"Fouquieria ochoterenae" Miranda
*"Fouquieria purpusii" Brandegee
*"Fouquieria shrevei" I.M.Johnst.
*"Fouquieria splendens" Engelm.

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.

Ecology

"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".

References

*cite book |last=Felger |first=Richard |coauthors=Mary B. Moser. |title=People of the desert and sea: ethnobotany of the Seri Indians |location=Tucson |year=1985 |publisher=University of Arizona Press
*cite book |last=Moser |first=Mary B. |coauthors=Stephen A. Marlett |title=Comcáac quih yaza quih hant ihíip hac: Diccionario seri-español-inglés |url=http://lengamer.org/admin/language_folders/seri/user_uploaded_files/links/File/DiccionarioSeri2005.pdf |year=2005 |publisher=Universidad de Sonora and Plaza y Valdés Editores |location=Hermosillo, Sonora |language=Spanish and English

External links

* [http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?4742 Germplasm Resources Information Network: "Fouquieria"]
* [http://delta-intkey.com/angio/www/fouquier.htm Fouquieriaceae] in [http://delta-intkey.com/angio/ L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The families of flowering plants.]