Fouquieria is a genus of 11 species of desert flowering plants, the sole genus in the family Fouquieriaceae. The genus is native to North America and includes the ocotillo and the Boojum tree or cirio. They have semisucculent stems with thinner spikes projecting from them, with leaves on the bases spikes. They are unrelated to cacti and do not look much like them; their stems are proportionately thinner than cactus stems and their leaves are larger.
Fouquieria
Fouquieria splendens is a plant indigenous to the Mojave Desert, Sonoran Desert, Chihuahuan Desert and Colorado Desert in the Southwestern United States, and northern Mexico.
Fouquieria splendens
An ocotillo in spring bloom on Pinyon Wash Road in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California
An ocotillo flower with visible needles
Ocotillo forest in the Santa Rita Mountains of Arizona