JOSHUA TREE

BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS

SPECIES: Yucca Brevifolia (Joshua Tree)

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :

Joshua tree is one of the most characteristic plants of the Mohave Desert and extends southward to the Mohave-Sonoran Desert ecotone. This species grows from southern California, Mexico, and western Arizona eastward into southern Nevada and southwestern Utah. It reaches its greatest abundance in the vicinity of Joshua Tree National Park, California. Var. jaegeriana grows primarily in the eastern portion of the Mohave; var. herbertii is restricted to parts of the western Mohave Desert in California.

The Joshua tree was named after the biblical leader, Joshua, as it reminded the Mormon pioneers of the hero raising out-stretched arms toward the heavens.

William Lewis Manly referred to them as "cabbage trees" in his book (Death Valley in '49), about the rescue of the Bennett and Arcane families from Death Valley.