51�Թ�

The plants it is named for were dubbed cirios — or candles — in Spanish, evidently because of their resemblance to tapered church candles at the missions nearby.

The plants it is named for were dubbed cirios - or candles - in Spanish, evidently because of their resemblance to tapered church candles at the missions nearby.

Among the endemic plants were oddities, like the cirio itself, a tree that looks like the tentacles of a subterranean creature, rising and twisting from the parched earth.