Joshua Tree Pictures, Detailed Information on the Joshua Tree Species
Welcome to our joshua tree pictures page. On this page you will find lots of nice pictures of joshua trees. You will also find a lot of wonderful information on joshua trees, including information about the joshua tree species, planting information, and much more. This is valuable and useful information that can help you to learn more about the joshua tree.
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Here is some detailed information on the joshua tree.
The name Joshua tree was given by a group of Mormon settlers who crossed the Mojave Desert in the mid-19th century. The tree's unique shape reminded them of a Biblical story in which Joshua reaches his hands up to the sky in prayer. Ranchers and miners who were contemporary with the Mormon immigrants also took advantage of the Joshua tree, using the trunks and branches as fencing and for fuel for ore-processing steam engines. It is also called Izote de desierto.
Joshua trees are fast growers for the desert; new seedlings may grow at an average rate of 7.6 cm (3.0 in) per year in their first ten years, then only grow about 3.8 cm (1.5 in) per year thereafter. The trunk of a Joshua tree is made of thousands of small fibers and lacks annual growth rings, making it difficult to determine the tree's age. This tree has a top-heavy branch system, but also has what has been described as a "deep and extensive" root system, with roots possibly reaching up to 11 m (36 ft) away.
If it survives the rigors of the desert it can live for hundreds of years with some specimens surviving up to a thousand years. The tallest trees reach about 15 m tall. New plants can grow from seed, but in some populations, new stems grow from underground rhizomes that spread out around the Joshua tree.
The evergreen leaves are dark green, linear, bayonet-shaped, 15 to 35 cm long and 7 to 15 mm broad at the base, tapering to a sharp point; they are borne in a dense spiral arrangement at the apex of the stems. The leaf margins are white and serrate.
The flowers are produced in spring from February to late April, in panicles 30 to 55 cm tall and 30 to 38 cm broad, the individual flowers erect, 4 to 7 cm tall, with six creamy white to green tepals. The tepals are lanceolate and are fused to the middle.
The Cahuilla Native Americans who have lived in the southwestern United States for generations still identify with this plant as a valuable resource and call it "hunuvat chiy'a" or "humwichawa". Their ancestors used the leaves of Y. brevifolia to weave sandals and baskets in addition to harvesting the seeds and flower buds for nutritious meals.
There is some concern from modeling that Joshua trees will be eliminated from Joshua Tree National Park due to climate change, and that this will damage and fundamentally transform the ecosystem of the park. There is also concern about the ability of the trees to migrate to favorable climates due to the extinction of the giant Shasta ground sloth (Nothrotheriops shastensi) 13,000 years ago; ground sloth dung has been found to contain Joshua tree leaves, fruits, and seeds, suggesting that the sloths might have been key to the tree's dispersal.
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