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. 
