TAMARICACEAE 



It is, however, not hardy except in regions comparable to those at 

 Tucson, Phoenix and Yuma. In the lower Colorado River Valley cut- 

 tings will produce trees 30 to 40 feet high and one and one-half 

 feet in diameter in seven or eight years. In the Coachella Valley 

 in California the trees are accused of harboring small gnats which 

 cause serious eye troubles with children. While this tree is not 

 suitable to extremely dry sites, in bottomlands or where it can 

 receive a little irrigation in warm regions, it produces perhaps the 

 quickest growth of any of our trees and provides abundant shade. 

 The trees can be planted sufficiently close together to make a very 

 effective check or diversion for floods. 



F OUQU I ER I AC EAE 



Fou.quioria splendens, Ocotillo, is one of the commonest shrubs 

 of the deserts from Texas to California and south into Mexico. Its 

 clumps of tall, straight, very thorny stems arc familiar to everyone 

 who has traveled through the southwest. It is sufficiently abundant 

 on many dry, rocky slopes to have considerable beneficial effect as 

 a soil binder. It is valueless for forage but the stems are used 

 extensively for building fences and for roofing adobe shacks. The 

 freshly cut stems when placed in the damp ground root readily. The 

 bark contains considerable rubber and attempts were made in the past 

 to commercialize the plant for this purpose. The bark of dead 

 Ocotillo is a godsend to the camper during rainy times, which in spite 

 of everything to the contrary, do occur in the desert. Shreds of 

 this bark burn freely in spite of any amount of soaking. It is said 

 that sheep and goats occasionally become entangled in the butts of 

 the Ocotillo and. being unable to extricate themselves, die of 

 starve t ion. 



BIXACEAE 



Amoreuxia pinnatif Ida is chiefly interesting because of the 

 beauty of its flowers and its comparative rarity. In our range it 

 is confined to extreme southern Arizona in the rocky foothills. It 

 is a low herb, six to ten inches high with palmately divided leaves 

 and large, slightly irregular yellow flowers* It forms a very 

 large, starohv root and a fruit slightly resembling that of okra only 

 shorter and smoother. Mr. Gentry, who has done considerable collect- 

 ing in Mexico, reports that the fruits of this plant are considered 

 a delicacy in southern Sonora and Chihuahua. There seems to be no 

 record that the roots are used for food. 



KOEEERL ITT IAC EAE 



* Koebe rIinia spinosa, another of our Crucifixion Thorns, has 

 a much wider range than Canotia, extending from western Texas to 



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