Today marks the start of a small series of photographs of one of my fifty favourite plants, Fouquieria splendens. Commonly known as ocotillo, Fouquieria splendens is distributed throughout northern Mexico and the southwest US (from California to Texas).
The family Fouquieriaceae is monotypic; Fouquieria is the only genus in the family. Eleven species of Fouquieria are recognized, but Fouquieria splendens is the only one that can be seen in the wild outside of Mexico (distribution map for Fouquieriaceae).
Ocotillo typically flowers from March to May. This coincides with the spring migration of hummingbirds, though hummingbirds are not the only pollinators. Many insects and other birds will also visit the plant; not surprising, as ocotillo will have flowers (and associated nectar) available even during the driest of years.
Photography resource link: 10 Tips for the New Digital SLR Photographer from photographer Thomas Hawk. Thomas takes a lot of photographs, so his advice is well-worth following. You can also browse his 4500+ photographs on Flickr.
Couple interesting things about ocotillos:
they have chlorophyll in their stems, so the plant can photosynthesize without leaves.
also, leaves appear very quickly (sometimes just hours) after a rain and disappear almost as quickly.
al - now what am I going to write about for the next entries in the series? Just kidding.