Fouquieria

  Fouquieria

This Vessel is made from a native plant that grows in abundance in the desert around Tucson.  I have and continue to use this plant in my landscaping.  For more specific information I have relied on Wikipedia for the following:  Fouquieria splendens (commonly known as ocotillo, but also referred to as coachwhip, candlewood, slimwood, desert coral, Jacob's Staff,Jacob Cactus, and vine cactus) is a plant indigenous to the Sonoran Desert and Chihuahuan Desert in the Southwestern United States and northernMexico.

Ocotillo is not a true cactus. For much of the year, the plant appears to be an arrangement of large spiny dead sticks, although closer examination reveals that the stems are partly green. With rainfall the plant quickly becomes lush with small (2–4 cm) ovate leaves, which may remain for weeks or even months.

Individual stems may reach a diameter of 5 cm at the base, and the plant may grow to a height of 10 m. The plant branches very heavily at its base, but above that the branches are pole-like and only infrequently divide further, and specimens in cultivation may not exhibit any secondary branches. The leaf stalks harden into blunt spines, and new leaves sprout from the base of the spine.

The bright crimson flowers appear especially after rainfall in spring, summer, and occasionally fall. Flowers are clustered indeterminately at the tips of each mature stem. Individual flowers are mildly zygomorphic and are pollinated by hummingbirds and native carpenter bees.

The Ocotillo plant is very hardy and has shown remarkable stamina and a will to live.  A friend had a sun porch roof covered with Ocotillo limbs and after many years took them down to use in a fence.  The ends were buried in the ground and after a wet season many were sprouting new life.  I have taken pruning pieces and done the same thing and currently have new plants growing from them.

Branch pieces were secured in base and top blocks of 2" wood while segments of the limbs were used to build the rest of the vessels surface.  Temporary blocking was used to spread the limbs in the center to increase the pieces diameter.

*More detail can be found on my art at my website <www.apatchablue.com>