释义 |
ocotillo U.S.|əʊkəʊˈtiːjəʊ| Also ocetilla, ocochilla, ocotilla. [Amer. Sp., dim. of ocote.] A spiny shrub, Fouquiera splendens, of the family Fouquieraceæ, native to the south-western United States and Mexico and bearing narrow, inconspicuous leaves and panicles of red flowers. Also attrib.
1856in Dict. Americanisms, Aside from the grass, there is a shrub called the..Ocetilla. 1864Harper's Mag. Nov. 697/2 Passing through some dense thickets of mesquit and ocochilla, the struggling family found themselves at the foot of a rocky bluff. 1883Ibid. Mar. 491/1 The houses consist of a frame-work of cottonwood or ocotilla wattles. Ibid. 502/2 The ocotilla is simply a wattle of sticks..waiting to be cut down and turned into palings. 1893Nation (N.Y.) 7 Sept. 169/3 Walking-sticks made of the porous ocotillo cactus. 1915L. H. Bailey Stand. Cycl. Hort. III. 1271/1 Ocotillo..is a conspicuous object in the deserts from Texas westward,..the rod-like stiff canes looking like lifeless sticks in dry weather and in its season crowned with masses of showy bloom. 1948Natural Hist. Apr. 181 The Ocotillo is frankly red, adding its flaming tips to every dry stick that looked dead a week ago. 1966Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 3 Apr. (1970) 381 The ocotillo..looks like about a dozen long coach whips stuck into the ground, spraying out in a weeping fashion. 1976San Antonio (Texas) Express-News 27 Nov. 1b/5 ‘You know the ocotillo,’ Ben said, pointing out the cactus that looks like five or six spiny, 10-foot pieces of rope snaking up into the air. |