What is "fouquieria columnaris"

cirio \cirio\ n. the candlewood of Mexico and couthwestern California ( Idria columnaris or Fouquieria columnaris), having tall columnar stems and bearing honey-scented creamy yellow flowers; -- called also the boojum tree.

Syn: boojum tree, Fouquieria columnaris, Idria columnaris.

Fouquieria columnaris, the Boojum tree or cirio is a tree in the ocotillo family, whose other members include the ocotillos. It is nearly endemic to the Baja California Peninsula (both the northern and southern states), 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".