Species
+

Fouquieria columnaris Kellogg ex Curran

Boojum Tree, boojum tree, boojumtree

Climate known 74 photographs Cactus or succulent
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Fouquieria columnaris, the Boojum tree or cirio is a tree in the ocotillo family, whose other members include the ocotillos. Some taxonomists place it in the separate genus Idria. It is nearly endemic to the Baja California Peninsula, with only a small population in the Sierra Bacha of Sonora, Mexico. The plant's English name, Boojum, was given by Godfrey Sykes of the Desert Laboratory in Tucson, Arizona, and is taken from Lewis Carroll's poem "The Hunting of the Snark".

Text from Wikipedia, “Fouquieria columnaris”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Fouquieria

Fouquieria is a genus of 11 species of desert flowering plants, the sole genus in the family Fouquieriaceae. The genus is native to North America and includes the ocotillo and the Boojum tree or cirio. They have semi succulent stems with thinner spikes projecting from them, with leaves on the bases of the spikes. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Fouquieria”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Fouquieriaceae
Described by
Kellogg ex Curran
Native to
Mexico Northwest
Wild records
1068 in range· 381 open

At a glance

Warmest month
33°C
Jul, mean day; nights 20 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
123mm/yr
no wet month · peak Dec 23 mm (CHELSA)
Light
24–53DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a cactus or succulent by the genus Fouquieria, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a winter growing season, December to March and September in the northern hemisphere (December to March and September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 123 mm a year, wettest December at 23 mm, driest May at 1 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 53 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 6.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Fouquieria columnaris Kellogg; Fouquieria gigantea Orcutt; Idria columnaria Kellogg; Idria columnaris (Kellogg) Kellogg.

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent by the genus Fouquieria, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: a winter growing season, December to March and September in the northern hemisphere (December to March and September at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the year's rain (88 mm of 123 mm) falls in December to March and September, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 16.3 °C against a yearly mean of 19.3 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: March and June to September.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 123 mm a year, wettest December at 23 mm, driest May at 1 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

123 mm a year at the habitat, 88 mm of it December to March and September. Wettest month December at 23 mm, driest May at 1 mm; 4 months under 5 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 105 mm to 157 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 53 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 53 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 54).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 6.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 6.1 °C, the absolute minimum 2.1 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 39.9 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 8.7 °C in January (across the envelope cells 7.2 °C to 12.1 °C), warmest day 33.3 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 6.1 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 48 to 51% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 19 °C in Dec to 33 °C in Jul; mean night from 9 °C in Jan to 21 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 123 mm of rain a year, most in Dec. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 235 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 2.1 °C and the 99th-percentile day 39.9 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°20°30°40°50°39.9° 99th-percentile day (undated)2.1° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter010203040mm rainDLI 24–53RH 48–51 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 235 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C19 / 18–2020 / 18–2222 / 19–2424 / 21–2727 / 21–2931 / 23–3333 / 26–3533 / 27–3532 / 27–3427 / 24–2923 / 21–2419 / 17–20
Night °C9 / 7–129 / 8–1210 / 9–1312 / 11–1413 / 13–1616 / 15–2020 / 18–2421 / 19–2420 / 19–2316 / 14–1812 / 10–159 / 7–12
Rain mm17 / 13–2520 / 10–3316 / 8–253 / 2–51 / 0–21 / 0–14 / 2–118 / 3–2012 / 6–248 / 7–1010 / 7–1523 / 18–27
DLI26 / 25–2732 / 30–3341 / 39–4248 / 47–4953 / 50–5353 / 51–5450 / 49–5046 / 45–4741 / 40–4235 / 34–3628 / 27–2924 / 22–25
RH %50 / 47–5450 / 46–5550 / 44–5749 / 42–5850 / 41–6248 / 38–6248 / 42–6049 / 45–6050 / 46–5950 / 45–5750 / 45–5451 / 48–54

Each figure is the median across the 235 grid cells holding the 1001 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1219:1322 (29.025, -113.875). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 2.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 6.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 39.9 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 235 distinct grid cells holding the 1001 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1219:1322 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 29.00_-113.750, lapse-corrected +22 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 362 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Northwest
Kew's description“tree” · “desert or dry shrubland”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker29.719, -114.722 · in the densest population, 957 records (90% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1068 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 381 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 2 km away. 10 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 67 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1068 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Fouquieria columnarisFouquieria columnarisFouquieria columnarisFouquieria columnarisFouquieria columnarisFouquieria columnarisFouquieria columnarisFouquieria columnaris

Photographs: (c) Alan Rockefeller, some rights reserved (CC BY) (8).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Fouquieria columnaris, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

COMPARATIVE GAS EXCHANGE OF LEAVES AND BARK IN THREE STEM SUCCULENTS OF BAJA CALIFORNIA
Ernesto Franco‐Vizcaíno, Guillermo Goldstein, Irwin P. Ting (1990) · American Journal of Botany
Twentieth century demographic changes in cirio and cardón in Baja California, México
Stephen H. Bullock, Nora E. Martijena, Robert H. Webb, Raymond M. Turner (2004) · Journal of Biogeography
Phylogeography and genetic structure of an iconic tree of the Sonoran Desert, the Cirio (Fouquieria columnaris), based on chloroplast DNA
Josué Jacob Martínez-Noguez, José Luis León de la Luz, José Delgadillo Rodrí­guez, Francisco J. García-Dé León (2020) · Biological Journal of the Linnean Society
Long-term growth rates of cirio (Fouquieria columnaris), a giant succulent of the Sonoran Desert in Baja California
Martı́n Escoto-Rodrı́guez, Stephen H. Bullock (2002) · Journal of Arid Environments
The Distribution of Cirio (Fouquieria columnaris) in Baja California, Mexico
Robert H. Webb, Mario Salazar-Ceseña, Raymond M. Turner (2014) · Haseltonia
Comparative Gas Exchange of Leaves and Bark in Three Stem Succulents of Baja California
Ernesto Franco‐Vizcaíno, Guillermo Goldstein, Irwin P. Ting (1990) · American Journal of Botany
Abundance of rhizospheric bacteria and fungi associated with Fouquieria columnaris at Punta Cirio, Sonora, Mexico
Oscar G. Gutiérrez-Ruacho, Martha L. Coronado, Lorenzo Felipe Sánchez‐Teyer, Alfonso Sánchez (2018) · Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad
Jumping Plant Lice of the genusCalophya(Hemiptera: Calophyidae) in Mexico
Paul Mendez, Daniel Burckhardt, Armando Equihua-Martínez, Jorge Manuel Valdéz Carrasco (2016) · Florida Entomologist
Riqueza y estabilidad de los polinizadores de los cirios (Fouquieria columnaris) del desierto sonorense: Un análisis comparativo
Gary Paul Nabhan, Jim Donovan, Stephen L. Buchmann, Alberto Búrquez (1999) · Botanical Sciences
FAMILIA FOUQUIERIACEAE
Instituto de Ecología, A.C. Centro Regional del Bajío, Sergio Zamudio (1995) · Flora del Bajío y de regiones adyacentes/Flora del Bajío y de regiones adyacentes

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Fouquieria 1 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 39 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.