Common Name(s): Boojum, Cirio

Synonym(s):

Family: Fouquieriaceae

Native To: Baja California and a small portion of the Sonoran coast

Native Habitat: Volcanic and granitic soils, alluvial plains, well-drained hillsides

Growth Habit: An odd tree with swollen trunk and short spiny branches

Flowering: August and September

Distinguishing Characteristics: This is certainly one of the most distinctive plants on Earth. Plants of F. columnaris can reach heights up to 65 ft tall with numerous short side branches and a massive tapering, white barked trunk up to 1 ½ ft in diameter near the base. Small, pale, whitish flowers, 1/3 to 1/2 inch long are clustered on long branching stalks near the top of the trees in late summer. New leaves grow during the winter and summer rainy seasons. Be sure to compare these plants with our native F. splendens, the ocotillo (covered in Plant Walk 1), also planted in the Krutch Cactus Garden.

Natural History and Cultivation Notes: This is the largest member of the family Fouquieriaceae. Fouquieria splendens, the related Ocotillo (also present in the Krutch cactus garden), should be familiar to Arizona and Southern California residents. The genus name, Fouquieria, refers to P. E. Fouquier, a French physician, and columnaris refers to the tree's columnar habit. Plants of this species are so distinctive that they were formerly placed as the sole species in the genus Idria. More recent work suggests that this species is in fact part of the genus Fouquieria. Boojum grows so slowly that a plant 50 ft tall may be between 500 to 600 years old. Plants must be near 6 ft tall before they will bloom. The white, sweet scented flowers never open wide, and so may appear perpetually in bud, when viewed from below in the Cactus Garden. But they attract many different insects such as bees, beetles, ants and butterflies. Larger insects often pry the petals open in order to extract nectar. The flowers are borne high at the top of the plants and should be looked for in mid-summer.

Ethnobotany: A version of the Seri origin myth says that, a long time ago, when the lands were inhabited by giants, one of many floods changed them into individuals of F. columnaris as they tried to escape up a mountain side (Felger and Moser 1991).The name "Boojum" was given to these plants by Godfrey Sykes, a well-read and well-traveled Englishman. On first seeing these trees in 1923, he was reminded of the storybook Boojum, a creature from "The Hunting of the Snark" by Charles Dodgson (who wrote under the pen-name Lewis Carroll). The name has since stuck.

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