Ocotillo Patch in Joshua Tree National Park

A bit further down the road from the Cholla Garden, there was a small patch of Ocotillo.  This plant is a cactus and is quite striking looking. 

Reaching for the Sky

These plants grow quite tall, far taller than Jeff or me (up to 20 feet high)!  And, when I looked up at this plant’s green branches, I felt like it was reaching up to touch the sky.  Altho this cactus contains barbs, they don’t leap out at you like a cholla’s does, so getting close to it wasn’t a problem.  Also, if you look closely, you can see a very few scarlet colored blooms remaining on a few of the tips of this plant.  They generally bloom in April and May, so seeing them in November was quite unusual!

Ocotillo Landscape

I thought I’d share this view of ocotillo in their natural environment.  There are only a couple in this image, altho there were a number in the immediate area.  They really didn’t appear much in other areas of Joshua Tree National Park, so they must need a very specific type of climate to thrive.  As a side note, the temps varied quite a bit from the northern part of the park where the Joshua Trees are plentiful, but the ocotillo are not, to the much warmer southern part of the park, where we came across this patch (and very few, if any, Joshua Trees).

Ocotillo without Water

Ocotillo go thru numerous springs and falls each year, depending on rainfall.  When the plant gets sufficient rain, the leaves pop out and are nice and green (below).  However, when it doesn’t get rain, the leave wither and fall off and the branches are bare – except for the barbs!  Interestingly, we saw ocotillos experiencing both spring and fall in this one little patch.  I guess it really shows how concentrated the water pooling can be.

Ocotillo Leaves

Enjoy!