ocotillo

noun

oco·​ti·​llo ˌō-kə-ˈtē-(ˌ)yō 

plural ocotillos

: a thorny scarlet-flowered candlewood (Fouquieria splendens of the family Fouquieriaceae) of the southwestern U.S. and Mexico

Illustration of ocotillo

Examples of ocotillo in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This includes all of the cacti, exotic plants like ocotillo, most of the trees such as ironwood, palo verde, mesquite and many smaller plants. —Tiffany Acosta, AZCentral.com, 19 Sep. 2025

Wooly devil grows near drought-tolerant plants, including ocotillo, hedgehog cactus and creosote. —Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 Feb. 2025

Tucson’s skyline and freeways lay 20 miles downhill from the ocotillos, mesquites and saguaros that ring the Santa Ritas. —Brandon Loomis, The Arizona Republic, 19 Dec. 2024

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff Red flowers are starting to blossom on the tips of an ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens) in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. —Francine Kiefer, The Christian Science Monitor, 26 May 2024

The mountainous desert region is one highlighted by cactus flowers like the Strawberry Pitaya, the spiny ocotillo shrub, catclaw, desert marigolds, and the area’s namesake bluebonnets. —J.d. Simkins, Sunset Magazine, 26 Apr. 2022

Those findings align with the work of Jim Cornett, a consulting ecologist who has been studying ocotillo in the park since 2007. —San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Mar. 2022

According to Texas Highways, visitors may also want to head approximately five hours north to pay a visit to Franklin Mountains State Park, home to the ocotillo, yucca, Southwestern barrel cactus, and Chihuahuan fishhook cactus. —Stacey Leasca, Travel + Leisure, 5 Mar. 2022

Word History

Etymology

Mexican Spanish, diminutive of ocote, a resinous pine tree (Pinus montezuma), from Nahuatl ocotl pine, torch made of pine

First Known Use

1856, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for ocotillo

• armadillo
• billow
• pillow
• caudillo