Plant Name:  Ocotillo

Botanical Name:  Fouquieiria splendens

Native Name:  Utush

Height/Physical Description:  Deciduous shrub that grows 8 to 25 feet in height and 5 to 10 feet in width.  Upright, tall whip-like branches covered in thick thorns.  Red to orange flowers that form on the tips of the branches in Spring.

Use:  Food (edible flowers) and fencing material (branches).

Harvesting:  The flowers were harvested from March until the middle of Summer.

Preparation:  The blossoms were eaten fresh or soaked in water to make a Summer drink.  The seeds were parched and ground into flour to make mush or cakes.

The branches were used to make fencing to prevent rodents from attacking the crops.  The first “barbed wire”!