(Fouquieria leonelae)

Fouquieria leonelae

young plant, made into a bonsai, CSSA show in southern California, summer

Hi Geoff,

We have a report that this plant is Fouquieria purpusii and should be moved to this entry. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/100159/ Do you you agree?

Thanks!

Joan

Usually I will agree with you, but this plant looks NOTHING like Fouquieria purpusii and as far as I can tell, a lot like the real Fouquieria leonilae... it is not my plant so I can not vouch for it 100% but I certainly see no reason to move it to Fouquieria purpusii which is most certainly obviously is not.. if there is some overwhelming impelling arguement to remove it from Fouquieria leonilae, I am OK with that.

Thanks Geoff. We appreciate your input. We'll leave it where it is unless we learn something more.

Definitely not purpusii, but maybe the poster that suspected it was wrong was referring to the plant BEHIND the leonilae in the picture - THAT plant is definitely a F. purpusii (you can only see the base of it, as well as some leaves). Easy to see the difference when they are side-by-side like that! I have only one leonilae, and I don't trim mine to develop a caudex/bonsai-shape like that, but the leaf shape sure matches leonilae.

Hi Minime,
you are absolutely right, the one who suspected it was wrong referred to the plant behind. Somehow he saw only the upper half of the photo and criticized to fast. Actually I was that suspecting subject :-))
But I am still not totally convinced that the plant in front is a true F. leonilae. The REAL plant which I got from ISI-Huntington has somewhat different leaves and thinner, longer and straighter branches. You have photos of my plant with the correct flower spike.

Jordi

I can only assume that the plant in the picture has been pruned extensively over the years and kept in a shallow pot to create that "bonsai" and "fat" look, and if it is indeed leonilae, then that is the reason the branches don't look quite right when compared to "normal" growth leonilae. Your long, lanky, rather thin branching pattern is just like mine and appears to be the normal growth pattern for the species - especially when planted in ground. All I had to go on for the original picture in question was the leaf shape, and that fits fairly well with new terminal-leaf growth of most Fouquieria, including leonilae. However, if someone had shown me that plant and forced me to guess the species, I must admit I would've gone with F. formosa. But, given the unknown history of the specimen in the photo - at least to me - it could be one of several species of Fouquieria (including leonilae), but most definitely not purpusii.