PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF THE BARK OF 

 FOUQUIERIA SPLENDENS 1 



IN the published proceedings of the Mexican Boundary 

 Survey of 1859, conducted by General William H. Emory, 

 are found numerous references to Fouquieria splendens. No 

 region of equal extent presents more marked illustrations of 

 the relations of the vegetation of a country to its topography 

 and geology than that lying along the Mexican boundary line. 

 The traveler traversing the desert table-lands will not fail 

 to unite in his recollections of these tracts the dull foliage of 

 the creosote bush, the palm-like Yucca, and the long thorny 

 wands of the Fouquieria splendens. The vegetation of the 

 El Paso basin and the Upper Rio Grande valley is described 

 as strikingly different from that of the immediately adjoining 

 country : new and strange plants are seen on every side. Upon 

 the table-lands many plants grow not to be found in the more 

 fertile valleys; among these is Fouquieria, a tree locally known 

 by its Mexican name ocotilla. A full description of the appear- 

 ance of the plant is given in the Mexican Boundary Survey; 

 also one in an article by Edward Lee Green. 2 The latter author 

 describes Fouquieria splendens in these terms : 



"It is a splendid oddity, and not more odd than beautiful, 

 flourishing in great abundance in many places. It grows to 

 the height of from eight to twelve feet, and in outline is quite 

 precisely fan-shaped. The proper trunk, usually ten to twelve 

 inches in diameter, is not more than a foot and a half high. 

 A few inches above the surface of the sands this trunk abruptly 

 separates into a dozen or more distinct and almost branch- 

 less stems. These simple stems, rising to the height of eight 



1 Paper read before the Chemical Section of the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science, at Philadelphia, 1884; also before the American 

 Philosophical Society, November 7, 1884. 



2 "Botanizing on the Colorado Desert," American Naturalist, 1880. 



