''Fouquieria diguetii'', known by the common names Adam's tree,palo Adán, and Baja aliforniaTree Ocotillo, is a plant in the family

Fouquieriaceae ''Fouquieria'' is a genus of 11 species of desert flowering plants, the sole genus in the family Fouquieriaceae. The genus is native to North America and includes the ocotillo ('' F. splendens'') and the Boojum tree or cirio ('' F. columnaris''). ...

native to the southern half of the Baja California Peninsula, and the coasts of

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into Municipalities of Sonora, 72 ...

and

Sinaloa Sinaloa (), officially the (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities, and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales. It is located in northwest Mexic ...

. It is a semi-succulent and deciduous plant related to the

ocotillo ''Fouquieria splendens'', commonly known as ocotillo, is a plant indigenous to the Mojave, Sonoran, Chihuahuan and Colorado deserts in the Southwestern United States (southern California, southern Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas), and nor ...

and the

Boojum tree ''Fouquieria columnaris'', the Boojum tree or ''cirio'' () is a tree in the Fouquieriaceae, ocotillo family, whose other members include the ocotillos. Some taxonomists place it in the separate genus ''Idria''. It is nearly endemic (ecology), end ...

. It is distinguished by its bright red, tubular flowers, a shrub to small tree habit, and conical, paniculate inflorescences.

Description

Morphology

This plant is a deciduous shrub arising from a short, thick trunk with branches covered in spines. It grows between 1.8 and 3 meters tall. The leaves are dark green and elliptic, and can be up to 2 cm long. The flowers are bright red in color, and attract hummingbirds. File:Fouquieriadiguetii.jpg, Detail of the trunk File:Fouquieria diguetii 173723655.jpg, Flowering among deciduous stems File:Fouquieria diguetii 27367459.jpg, Detail of inflorescence File:Fouquieria diguetii 27367456.jpg, Plants with leaves

Taxonomy

The chromosome number is 2''n'' = 48.

Taxonomic history

This species was described in 1899 by Philippe Van Tieghem as ''Bronnia digueti'' and as ''Bronnia thiebauti''. George Valentine Nash described this plant as ''Fouquieria peninsularis''. In 1925, Ivan M. Johnston combined all of these names under the current one, ''Fouquieria diguetii''. However, it is written in his description as ''F''. ''digueti.''

Etymology

This species is named for Leon Diguet, a French naturalist who traveled throughout Baja California.

Distribution and habitat

This plant may be found from the vicinity of El Crucero in southern

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

into the cape of the

Baja California Sur Baja California Sur, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California Sur, is a state in Mexico. It is the 31st and last state to be admitted, in 1974. It is also the second least populated Mexican state and the ninth-largest state by ...

, and on the surrounding islands in the

gulf A gulf is a large inlet from an ocean or their seas into a landmass, larger and typically (though not always) with a narrower opening than a bay (geography), bay. The term was used traditionally for large, highly indented navigable bodies of s ...

, and the Santa Margarita and Magdalena Islands on the Pacific coast. It is also found on some parts of the coast of

and

, facing the Gulf of California. This species is common throughout its range. On Montserrat Island in the Gulf of California, it can be found on marine terraces and escarpments.Ortiz-Ávila, V., Arnaud-Franco, G. A., Estrada-Castillón, E., Cavazos-Lozano, E. A., Romero, G., & Mellado, M. (2020). Vegetation on geomorphic surfaces in the Monserrat Island in the Gulf of California. ''Ecosistemas y recursos agropecuarios'', ''7''(2).

Phenology and biology

There is a considerable amount of variation in the growth habit and inflorescence length over the distribution of this species. Plants in the Sonoran Desert typically only reach 1 to 3 meters in height at maturity, while mature plants in the southern tropical region may commonly exceed 4 meters in height. The length of the inflorescence is dependent on the moisture available at the time of development, meaning plants in the arid part of the range have inflorescences that average 5.1 cm in length, while in the tropical parts of the range the inflorescence may average 11.5 cm in length. Inflorescences produced in the dry season tend to be much shorter than those produced in the wet seasons. Pollination is primarily from hummingbirds, who are attracted to the long, red, tubular flowers.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17241775 Flora of Baja California Flora of Baja California Sur Flora of Sonora Flora of Sinaloa diguetii