DRAFT 1 4/12/1
This is a first draft of an easy-to-understand booklet about the Cirio or Boojum Tree. At present, much of it is quotes from Joseph Wood Krutch: The Forgotten Peninsula: A Naturalist in Baja California. William Sloane Associates, New York, 1961. Later, I hope to boil it down and put it in my own words.Size: How tall do cirios grow?
Father Clavijero said up to seventy feet. Krutch says no modern observer has reported much more than fifty feet.
Growth: How fast do cirios grow?
“First of all, the growth is so extremely slow that in most cases ten years make no immediately obvious change at all, certainly one in the general pattern of the tree. In one case a specimen which had several very slender branches near the summit seemed, as the result of a fairly accurate estimate, to have grown about eighteen inches on several of these branches or about one and eight-tenths inches per year. One of the other specimens which looked hardly detectably different from its ten-year-old portrait happen d to have growing quite near it a young boojum, perhaps four feet all in the original photography, about seven feet tall now.
“First of all, the growth is so extremely slow that in most cases ten years make no immediately obvious change at all, certainly one in the general pattern of the tree. In one case a specimen which had several very slender branches near the summit seemed, as the result of a fairly accurate estimate, to have grown about eighteen inches on several of these branches or about one and eight-tenths inches per year. One of the other specimens which looked hardly detectably different from its ten-year-old portrait happen d to have growing quite near it a young boojum, perhaps four feet all in the original photography, about seven feet tall now.
Possibly Idria follows the pattern of the easily accessible and therefore carefully studied saguaro cactus of Arizona, though the two are not at all related. The saguaro grows very slowly for the first ten yours or so; then much faster for many hears; probably reaches its full height in about a century and lives for a hundred years more without much further growth. Like the saguaro, Idria may well live for a length of time quite extraordinary among plants which have no more than a sort of skeletal reinforcement of hard wood.
Only one of our six had changed so much that it almost escaped detection.” “One of the main branches had somehow or other been lost and the loss apparently stimulated the growth of new ones which hand changed this specimen a great deal more than any of the others. And since so many of the apparently old boojums are nearly or completely unbranched it is possible that branching is usually the result on an injury. Krutch, p. 87-93.
Names: How was the cirio or boojum tree named?
'kototax
Cochimines called it Milapa.
English: Named after Alice in Wonderland. See anecdote about how named by Godfrey Sykes in 1922, from Krutch, p. 69-70.
'kototax
Cochimines called it Milapa.
English: Named after Alice in Wonderland. See anecdote about how named by Godfrey Sykes in 1922, from Krutch, p. 69-70.
Idria columnaris is the old scientific name, still used.
Krutch, p. 71-72: “Officially, the correct scientific name is Idria columnaris, which was bestowed upon it when it entered technical botany by virtue of a proper botanical description given in an obscure botanical journal in 1863 by Dr. Kellogg of the California Academy of Sciences….”
Law: How is the cirio protected?
Climate: What is the weather where cirios grow?
Krutch, p. 73. “The mean annual rainfall is about two and one half inches and that is so little that on some portions of the earth’s surface it results in an almost absolute desert of bare sand dunes. Some boojums grow where a year and even two years may pass without any rain at all--a condition which only very few of the most resistant desert plants can survive. There it stands holding within its thick, somewhat spongy trunk the last remaining drops of the water it had snatched on that almost forgotten day when some rain did fall. Its leaves may have dropped long ago and its slender branches dried out almost completely, but it can wait a long, long time and if it has not waited too long it may, in spring, draw upon its reserves to produce both a few leaves and a tassel of cream-colored flowers….”
Krutch, p. 71-72: “Officially, the correct scientific name is Idria columnaris, which was bestowed upon it when it entered technical botany by virtue of a proper botanical description given in an obscure botanical journal in 1863 by Dr. Kellogg of the California Academy of Sciences….”
Law: How is the cirio protected?
Climate: What is the weather where cirios grow?
Krutch, p. 73. “The mean annual rainfall is about two and one half inches and that is so little that on some portions of the earth’s surface it results in an almost absolute desert of bare sand dunes. Some boojums grow where a year and even two years may pass without any rain at all--a condition which only very few of the most resistant desert plants can survive. There it stands holding within its thick, somewhat spongy trunk the last remaining drops of the water it had snatched on that almost forgotten day when some rain did fall. Its leaves may have dropped long ago and its slender branches dried out almost completely, but it can wait a long, long time and if it has not waited too long it may, in spring, draw upon its reserves to produce both a few leaves and a tassel of cream-colored flowers….”
Water: How do cirios get and store water?
They recycle CO2 of respiration by photosynthesis in green bark, without pores in bark, This way, they can conserve water while still using solar energy.
I have watched cirios in the fog or light showers. Their spines and leaves definitely bead up with moisture. So I believe that cirios probably obtain much of their moisture from the air, rather than through their roots. The substantial height of cirios supports this idea. The taller the tree, the better able it is to reach into undisturbed air with the most moisture. Closer to the ground, much of the moisture may have been swept from the air by other plants.
Cirios are extremely rigid for such tall and slender trees. They are much stiffer than ordinary trees. I have walked among them in a 50 mph breeze, and they don't sway more than a few inches. This is what you would expect for a plant that absorbs moisture from the air. If the cirio swayed too much, it would shake off the moisture which is collecting in small droplets, before the droplets can be absorbed. This likewise explains why they ordinarily don't as much as ordinary trees--small branches would sway more.
Reproduction: Are cirios currently reproducing?
Krutch, p. 93. “For one thing, it flourishes abundantly in the one place where it does grow and is obviously reseeding itself since young plants from six to eight inches up to six or eight feet tall are not uncommon; …."
Reproduction: What a cirio seeds like?
See Humphrey, p. 40.
Conservation: What are the threats to cirios?
- Global warming: see (Dominant Plant Species Response to Climate Change Project Bibliography here)
- Grazing?
- Blowdown
- Very infrequent germination
- Trade/collecting
“The green photosynthetic bark of these species may be an adaptation for surviving prolonged drought and may function to recycle endogenous respiratory CO2, thus maintaining the plant’s energy reserves and permitting rapid production of leaves in response to infrequent rains.” From the abstract of Fraqnco-Viscaino et all, 19.
Sources: Scientific articles about cirios summarized
Sources: Websites about cirios summarized
Sources: Popular accounts of cirios summarized
Distribution: Where is the cirio found?
Krutch, p. 71: The range is “from about the thirtieth parallel south to not quite latitude twenty-seven, a distance of approximately 200 miles.
There is a distribution map in Forrest Shreve’s Vegetation of the Sonoran Desert.
The Smithsonian Institution’s Goldman Expedition of 1905 and 1906 found their last specimen just north of latitude twenty-seven. From Krutch, p. 71.
The Smithsonian Institution’s Goldman Expedition of 1905 and 1906 found their last specimen just north of latitude twenty-seven. From Krutch, p. 71.
Variation: How do cirios vary in appearance across their range?
Flowers: When does the cirio flower?
Krutch, p. 77: “yellowish-white” “…These flowers are small, tubular and borne in clusters at the at the end of branches.” The seeds are “packed together in a dry capsule which bursts when ripe….”
Taxonomy: What are the cirio’s relatives?
"...Its in the family of Fouquieria, a family all of its own in the order of Ericales, the rhodo's, tea. kiwifruits, cyclamen and tea for instance. Within that order it is a real odd-ball but there are other odd-balls there, including carnivorous plants and some of the plants without chlorophyll. Not very useful, if you go up high enough in the various plant ordering system they all become... plants. So everything is related. But no, at lower level it is not related to yucca, not by a long shot in this case, based on the seed leaves: yucca has one, boojum two initial seed leaves." Paul Gibsons
Branches--Why do the cirio’s arms twist so strangely?
Cirios are extremely variable in form. Many don't branch at all, while others have a few, or even many arms. The arms seem to form when there's an injury, such as where the top has been lost.
I have looked at thousands of Cirios, trying to figure out why their arms twist. I'm going to propose a hypothesis, which follows from my observation that they obtain substantial moisture from the air, by catching and absorbing droplets of fog.
Hypothesis: Cirio branches grow towards the source of moisture. In other words, they grow (and therefore slowly turn) towards the direction of the wind that is most common during the foggy periods.
In many places, you can see most cirios leaning slightly in the same direction. I'm not sure what the wind direction usually is, but they seemed to be leaning towards the most likely wind direction, rather than away.
Sometimes, cirio branches make loops. My explanation for the loops would be that the branches are following the eddies set up by nearby ridges or boulders.
I have seen two cirio branches, from the same tree, following one another, closely parallel. The explanation is that the first branch, to the windward, sets up turbulence, which make moisture more likely to collect on the second branch nearby. The eddies set up by the first branch make droplets collide and grow larger--or else eddying droplets may slam into the downwind branch harder and adhere better.
If there were some other explanation, such as growing upward to the light as many plants do, then the cirio form would be more predictable.
Culture: Can the cirio be grown in gardens?
I have looked at thousands of Cirios, trying to figure out why their arms twist. I'm going to propose a hypothesis, which follows from my observation that they obtain substantial moisture from the air, by catching and absorbing droplets of fog.
Hypothesis: Cirio branches grow towards the source of moisture. In other words, they grow (and therefore slowly turn) towards the direction of the wind that is most common during the foggy periods.
In many places, you can see most cirios leaning slightly in the same direction. I'm not sure what the wind direction usually is, but they seemed to be leaning towards the most likely wind direction, rather than away.
Sometimes, cirio branches make loops. My explanation for the loops would be that the branches are following the eddies set up by nearby ridges or boulders.
I have seen two cirio branches, from the same tree, following one another, closely parallel. The explanation is that the first branch, to the windward, sets up turbulence, which make moisture more likely to collect on the second branch nearby. The eddies set up by the first branch make droplets collide and grow larger--or else eddying droplets may slam into the downwind branch harder and adhere better.
If there were some other explanation, such as growing upward to the light as many plants do, then the cirio form would be more predictable.
Culture: Can the cirio be grown in gardens?
Krutch, p. 94: “Transplanted specimens seem to tolerate fairly wide variations of climate, moisture, and soil. The very first specimens I ever saw had been growing and sometimes blooming for a number of years on the campus of the University of Arizona where the average rainfall is about nine inches a year.
Moreover, hillsides of broken granite where the rainfall lies somewhere between the one or two inches found in parts of its Baja range and the nine inches characteristic of the Tucson region, and also without any great difference of temperatures, are not uncommon. But so far as I know, transplanted specimens have never spontaneously reproduced themselves and that would seem to rule out the possibility that they have been confined to their one native habitat by the simple fact that seeds have never managed to cross some natural barrier….
What it does seem to suggest is that the very special conditions required are not for growth but for the successful germination of seeds or for the establishment of young plants.
p. 95: “At the Boyce-Thompson Arboretum near Florence, Arizona, boojum seeds have been planted…and found to germinate very readily; so readily, indeed, that approximately 98% at least started to grow, though all of those than transplanted into the out-of-doors were soon destroyed by rodents.”
Professor Phillips hypothesis: “Notoriously, rodents attack seedlings; and if there are many rodents, none may survive. But rodent populations rise and fall spectacularly from year to year as conditions are favorable or unfavorable. Perhaps boojum seeds germinate whenever conditions are favorable to them but survive only if, for several years following, the rodent population is at a low level. That would explain the fact, obvious enough in Baja, that young specimens are found in groups of about the same apparent age, some groups being composed of individuals apparently years older than those of any other group while none of intermediate size can be found.
This certainly suggests that successful reproduction takes place only at intervals separated by several--possibly a considerable number--of years, as one would expect if the establishment of a new generation requires some unusual condition like a year favorable to germination followed by several unfavorable to rodents.
This plant has been said to grow in the following regions (From Davesgarden.com):
Apache Junction, Arizona
Chandler, Arizona
Mohave Valley, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
El Cajon, California
Encinitas, California
San Diego, California (2 reports)
San Marino, California
Miami, Florida
Trade: Is trade in cirios a problem?Near Catavina, I have seen signs that small cirios are being collected--a small cirio about a foot long, dead on the ground, with it's taproot cut cleanly. However, there is a 5,000 peso fine for collecting them.
Uses: How do people use cirios?
Uses: How do people use cirios?
- Missions burned them
- Curiosities in gardens
Animals: How do animals use cirios?
Bees and birds build nests in and on them
Grazing: Is grazing a threat to cirios?
While I have seen grazing around cirios, I haven't seen any damage to them from grazing. I don't know if the saplings are eaten by cattle.
Mortality: What kills cirios?
Epiphytes:
Do other plants grow on cirios?
Reserves: What is the Valle de los Cirios? (the Biosphere Reserve)
Biochemistry of cirios.
Specimens--Where can I see a cirio in a botanical garden?
Krutch: Boyce-Thompson Arboretum near Florence, Arizona
Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden
Thorns of cirios
Krutch, p. 77. “…The spines…on the boojum…are…produced in a fashion which, I believe, is characteristic of no other family [of plants]. Many plants produce prickles like those of the rose which grow out of the green layer just below the outer skin. Many other, like the locust tree, for instance, have thorns, properly so called, which originate deep in the wood like branches. But the ocotillo and the boojum have found a third and exceedingly curious method of producing these defensive weapons. Look at the tip of a branch which happens to be g rowing and you will notice that the new leaves are quite different from those on the older parts of the plant. In stead of being sessile (or sitting) right on the stem itself, they have, like most leaves, a stem, stalk, or as the botanists call it, a petiole. But when the time comes for one of these new leaves to drop, a very odd thing happens. Instead of falling with the leaf in the usual fashion, the petiole remains attached to the main stem, develops a sharp point, and hardens into a thorn. When next the leaves come out on this branch, they will be sessile at the base of the thorn, which will never again be produced at that point. Obviously, this freakish and unique process is more revealing of a relationship [with the ocotillo] than any widespread characteristic of desert plants like the semi-succulence exhibited by both the boojum and the elephant tree.”
Roots and soil: Can cirios grow out of solid rock?
Yes, they grow quite well out of cracks in solid rock, such as granite. They may thrive when growing from solid rock, since there they are more resistant to blowdown, collecting, and its harder for cattle to find the seedlings there.
What other interesting plants share cirio habitat?
Yes, they grow quite well out of cracks in solid rock, such as granite. They may thrive when growing from solid rock, since there they are more resistant to blowdown, collecting, and its harder for cattle to find the seedlings there.
What other interesting plants share cirio habitat?
Krutch, p.74: “”One of the most conspicuous of the boojum’s associates, and only slightly less queer, is that elephant tree (Pachycormus discolor) which occurs in almost precisely the same area. It is sprawling, contorted and branched more or less after the normal tree pattern. But the branches are abnormally thick near the trunk and then taper rapidly toward the end….” “…It is said to break out in certain seasons with lovely pink flowers which give it, from a distance, the appearance of a peach tree in full bloom.” Another tree found in the southern half of Baja is “Bursera microphylla, also popularly and confusingly called elephant tree because of its similar but less extravagantly tapering branches.”
p. 62: “…Two ocotillos, one identical with the “Arizona species (Fouquieria splendens), the other (Fouquieria peninsularis) distinguished by greater size and a more sturdily branching habit.”
Krutch, p. 55-6: “…The Cardon (Pachycereus pringlei) which bears a considerable resemblance to the saguaro of Arizona though it reaches an even greater size and generally holds it arms almost vertically upward instead of curiously curbing at unexpected angles and in unexpected directions."
History: When were cirios discovered?
Krutch, p. 70-71: “…The first account in print was written in Italian by the eighteenth-century Jesuit missionary Father Francisco Clavijero whose History of (Lower) California gives a description of at good many plants and animals, including the following from a short chapter called ‘Noxious and Grotesque Plants’:
‘Much more curious is another tree called milapa by the Cochimines, which is frequently found from 20 to 30 latitude. It had not been seen by the missionaries before the year 1751 because they had not gone into the interior of that country, nor do I believe that it has been known until now by naturalists. It is so large that it grows to a height of seventy feet. It’s trunk, thick in proportion, is not wooded but soft and succulent like the branches of the pitahaya and the cordon, two large common cacti. Its branches are certain little twigs about a foot and a half long, covered with small leaves and protected by a thorn at the end. There is no use of this great tree; it is neither dry nor good for firewood, but at the mission of San Francisco de Borja, they burn it because of the lack of fuel.”Kruch, p. 72. “…Though it had been recognizably described by Clavijero in 1789, nearly three quarters of a century had to pass before Dr. Kellogg gave it an official name and thus a place in botanical literature.”
Roots: Do cirios have extensive roots?
See photo in group 2 of upended tree.
Quotes about Cirios
Quotations about cirios--descriptions, etc:
Krutch, p. 85. “Boojums dominate the landscape and are, ecologically, the dominant organism; some small, some forty or fifty feet high; some thick, some thin; some unbranched, some branching crazily as though at random; some lifting the branches upward, some allowing them to droop and curl fantastically. The effect is almost hallucinatory--rather like some surrealist dream.”
Krutch, p.74: “It dominates the landscape and imposes upon it an air of dreamlike unreality. If one is reminded of anything, it is either of the imagined surface of some distant planet or of one of those reconstructed scenes from a remote geological era when there were no real trees, only huge club mosses and horsetails magnified to gigantic size.”
Krutch, p.74: “It dominates the landscape and imposes upon it an air of dreamlike unreality. If one is reminded of anything, it is either of the imagined surface of some distant planet or of one of those reconstructed scenes from a remote geological era when there were no real trees, only huge club mosses and horsetails magnified to gigantic size.”
Krutch, p. 69. More accurate description, possibly with quotes from others.
p. 96. Boojum or cirio (Fouquieria columnaris= Idria columnaris)- This member of the Fouquieriaceae (ocotillo family) is certainly one of the most wierd-looking plants in North America if not on Earth. Shreve (in Shreve and Wiggins, 1964, p. 162) described cirio in his usual terse writing: "Idria ranks without rival as the most bizarre plant of the Sonoran Desert. In fact, it is one of the most striking woody plants in the flora of North America." Shreve included the boojum as a woody (nonsucculent) plant and labeled it's life form as sarcophyte, stout-stemmed drought-deciduous trees (in Shreve and Wiggins, 1964, ps. 42, 46; structure of stem shown in Plate 31 and 32).
Boojum grows mostly in the Vizcaino vegetational subdivision of the Sonoran Desert (often designated as the "Vizcaino Desert") on the Baja California peninsula where it is a dominant in three of the seven series of this subdivision (Brown, 1994, ps. 208-209). Cirio also grows in the Central Gulf Coast vegetational subdivision (Shreve in Shreve and Wiggins, 1964, map 12, p. 164; Brown, 1994, p. 215).
Boojum grows mostly in the Vizcaino vegetational subdivision of the Sonoran Desert (often designated as the "Vizcaino Desert") on the Baja California peninsula where it is a dominant in three of the seven series of this subdivision (Brown, 1994, ps. 208-209). Cirio also grows in the Central Gulf Coast vegetational subdivision (Shreve in Shreve and Wiggins, 1964, map 12, p. 164; Brown, 1994, p. 215).
Krutch, p.74: “It dominates the landscape and imposes upon it an air of dreamlike unreality. If one is reminded of anything, it is either of the imagined surface of some distant planet or of one of those reconstructed scenes from a remote geological era when there were no real trees, only huge club mosses and horsetails magnified to gigantic size.”
The specimens presented here were grown outside the species' range for educational purposes in the botanical garden of the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum, Pima County, Arizona. June. Source
The specimens presented here were grown outside the species' range for educational purposes in the botanical garden of the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum, Pima County, Arizona. June. Source
