Beautiful Ocotillo
by Robert Bales
Title
Beautiful Ocotillo
Artist
Robert Bales
Medium
Photograph - Photo
Description
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. 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.
Fouquieria splendens Engelm. is a desert plant of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Common names include ocotillo, desert coral, coachwhip, Jacob's staff, and vine cactus, although it is not a true cactus. For much of the year, the plant appears to be an arrangement of large spiny dead sticks, although closer examination reveals that the stems are partly green. With rainfall the plant quickly becomes lush with small (2-4 cm) ovate leaves, which may remain for weeks or even months.
Individual stems may reach a diameter of 5 cm at the base, and the plant may grow to a height of 10 m. The plant branches very heavily at its base, but above that the branches are pole-like and only infrequently divide further, and specimens in cultivation may not exhibit any secondary branches. The leaf stalks harden into blunt spines, and new leaves sprout from the base of the spine.
The bright crimson flowers appear especially after rainfall in spring, summer, and occasionally fall. Flowers are clustered indeterminately at the tips of each mature stem. Individual flowers are mildly zygomorphic and are pollinated by hummingbirds and native carpenter bees.
Uploaded
March 3rd, 2015
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Viewed 1,470 Times - Last Visitor from Cambridge, MA on 04/23/2024 at 11:51 PM
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Comments (23)
Marian Bell
Never seen or heard of this plant, but it is beautiful! Nice shot! LF
Robert Bales replied:
Thanks so much for the nice comment and the LF!! We have them growing next to our walkway!!
Emmy Vickers
Stunning capture Robert! What an interesting looking flower. Very pretty. Thanks for the description. Just tweeted and added to my favorites. Beautifully composed. L/T/Fave.
Robert Bales replied:
Thanks so much for the great review and adding it to you FAV!! These sure are very interesting plants. They look like they are dead for 10 month.
Bob and Nadine Johnston
Congratulations Your work was chosen to be Featured in ARIZONA - ARTISTS GROUP, from Hundreds of images submitted to the Group.
Bob and Nadine Johnston
This Unique Artwork of yours was Published in -The Internet Weekly... "The Artist News" today, http://paper.li/f-1343723559# --- If you go to the paper, click SHARE, you can Subscribe, Tweet, Facebook, or even Email a copy to Friends, Relatives and others, so they can see the Publication of your Art in "The ARTIST NEWS." It's one of our FAVORITES today...
Robert Bales replied:
Thanks so much for the publication and all of your work you do to help promote our work!!
Karen Cook
Such vibrant colors of the flower against the blue sky!
Robert Bales replied:
Yes the blue sure helps to make the red pop and thanks for looking and the nice comments!!
Lucinda Walter
Congratulations! Your beautiful work is featured in the FAA group "Beauty of Arizona" l/f
Louise Adams
I love flowers so I find this image particularly engaging. The colours are wonderful. The crispness of the image and blurred green in the background are fine composition - almost a 3D effect.