Ocotillo

The morning of April 13th came up clear, as you can see in this photo that I took after we drove back the five miles from our hotel to Monahans Sandhills State Park. The flowering plant is Fouquieria splendens, called ocotillo (pronounced oh-ko-tee-yo), devil’s walking stick, and candlewood. The species is common in some of the desert regions of west Texas and farther west into New Mexico and Arizona and south into Mexico. Because ocotillo isn’t native in Monahans, but some distance south of there, it seems that someone had planted this specimen, which I found growing right outside the state park’s headquarters. Be that as it may, go ahead and remember this picture on July 4th if you’re looking for a red, white, and blue image to symbolize Independence Day in the United States.

© 2014 Steven Schwartzman