The minimum length of stem required for production of flowers in the C₃ desert shrub ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens) has been widely accepted as 1 m since 1943. Long-term studies in the Chihuahuan Desert indicate that this threshold is no longer acceptable. During 2003–2006, 15 ocotillo stems shorter than 1 m produced 1–32 flowers each. The shortest stem on which flowers were produced was 62 cm long. Although fully capable of producing flowers, the contribution of stems <1 m long to overall production of flowers was small, accounting for only 0.49% of all flower-bearing stems. Stems <1 m long can no longer be excluded from studies of allocation to reproduction in ocotillo because of their assumed inability to produce flowers.