picklepastures's Identifications

My sister took this picture with her iPhone. I couldn't get her to open an iNaturalist account, so I asked (and received) her permission to post it here to document this behavior. Must be mating season.

There are lots of these growing along Highway 190 coming into Newton, Texas but they were a bit inaccessible for photography because the ditches are boggy from recent rainfall. I finally found a patch of them growing in a thicket behind a business just inside city limits.

Photographed at a porchlight in the Burnet Co. portion of Balcones Canyonlands NWR. As often is the case, I am indebted to Mike Quinn's great texasento.net for leading me to this ID. See,
http://texasento.net/TXBycidPix.html

Fouquieria splendens, from the Fouquieriaceae family, it is a local species of the Chihuahuan Desert. The Ocotillo has several adaptations to prevent desiccation, for example small needle like leafs and a waxy cuticle.