Stems of the Ocotillo are used by natives in building huts. They are sometimes cut and, when planted close together in rows, take root and form living fences and corrals.
Common names: WINDMILLS, PINK THREE-FLOWER, TRAILING-FOUR-O’CLOCK Arizona and Texas deserts: (_Allionia incarnata_). Purple pink. April-October. California desert: (_Allionia albida_). Rose pink. July-October. Four-o’clock family. Size: Spreading annual with branches 30 inches.
Slender, trailing stems up to 30 inches in length with clusters of three rose-purple to pink blossoms serve to identify the Trailing-four-o’clock which is a conspicuous plant of the open plains and mesas. The plants prefer dry, sandy benches where they are quite conspicuous with their prostrate, somewhat sticky stems weighted with clinging grains of sand. Blossoms are usually showy and colorful, rarely pale rose to white.
Fruits of _A. incarnata_ are conspicuously toothed.
Common names: GLOBEMALLOW, APRICOT-MALLOW, SORE-EYE POPPY, DESERTMALLOW Arizona and California deserts: (_Sphaeralcea ambigua_). Peach-pink. February-May. Texas-New Mexico deserts: (_Sphaeralcea angustifolia_). Pink. May-October. Mallow family. Size: 1 to 5 feet tall, often clustered.
Common throughout all of the Southwest, the Mallows range in size from small herbs 5 or 6 inches high to coarse, straggling, woody-stemmed plants with stems 4 or 5 feet long. Their flowers range in color from white and pale yellow to lavender, apricot, and red. Some species, including _Ambigua_, grow in large clumps with as many as 100 stems from a single root. The smaller species often cover the desert floor in early spring with a dense growth of flowers giving an apricot tinge to the landscape. Several species flower in spring and again after the summer rains.
A local belief that hairs of the plant are irritating to the eyes has given the name “Sore-eye Poppies,” an appellation carried out in the Mexican name _Mal-de-ojos_. In Lower California, Mallows are called _Plantas Muy Malas_, meaning very bad plants. In contrast, the Pima Indian name is translated to mean “a cure for sore eyes.”
Common names: FAIRYDUSTER, FALSE-MESQUITE, (_MESQUITILLA_), HAIRY-LEAVED CALLIANDRA Arizona, California and Texas deserts: (_Calliandra eriophylla_). Pink. February-May. Pea family. Size: From a few inches up to 3½ feet tall.