Common Name: OCOTILLO FAMILY
Habit: Shrub, tree, spiny. Stem: branched near base [or trunk 1, thick, fleshy]. Leaf: simple, alternate, small, +- fleshy, glabrous, generally produced after rains, of 2 kinds: 1° on long-shoots, subtended by decurrent ridge on stem, blade generally early-deciduous, petiole persisting as spine; 2° clustered on short-shoot in axils of 1°, +- persistent, not spine-forming. Inflorescence: spike, raceme, or panicle, axillary or terminal; flowers many. Flower: sepals 5, unequal, overlapping, +- scarious, persistent; corolla bright red [yellow], tube cylindric, lobes 5, overlapping, spreading; stamens 10--20+, in 1 or +- 2 whorls, filaments free; pistil 1, ovary superior, 3(4)-chambered at base, placenta axile at base, parietal above, ovules +- 3--6 per chamber, style 3(4)-lobed. Fruit: capsule, loculicidal. Seed: elliptic, angled or winged.
Genera In Family: 1 genus (including Idria), 11 species: southwestern United States, Mexico.
eFlora Treatment Author: Lisa M. Schultheis & William J. Stone
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.