Joshua tree what does it look like

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Like a real cowboy, they look best in silhouette at sunset, or under the haze of a thick desert heat. The Mormons named the tree for the Biblical figure Joshua, or so the story goes. Photo by Esther Lee. Joshua trees are endemic to the American Southwest, meaning they grow naturally only in California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah.

Photograph by Dan Eckert. Photo by Eric Bryan. One of the Joshua trees neighbors, the ocotillo looks like a grey, dead bush most of the year, until it bursts into red flowers in bloom. It was also home to a wide range of animals. At that time, the Joshua tree lived side by side with mammoths, ground sloths, and saber-toothed cats! In fact, in that early time it may have been the giant Shasta Ground Sloths who were responsible for helping to spread Joshua tree seeds.

Estimating the age of a Joshua tree can be a real challenge given that it does not produce the annual growth rings that actual trees do. Though most Joshua tree plants live to be years old at the most, some have been known to live for as many as years.

The oldest recorded Joshua tree lived to be an astonishing years old! This is considered fast for desert vegetation, though it is slow compared to other plants. It seems that new Joshua tree seedlings may grow faster in the beginning as much as 3 inches per year in the first years , and then slow down as they mature, growing just 1. At this rate, it will take a Joshua tree years to reach its full height.

One of the most fascinating facts about the Joshua tree has to do with its complex root system. As a monocot, the Joshua tree has a fibrous root system. The thin roots grow out in a radial pattern from the base of the plant. A typical Joshua tree plant has so many roots — hundreds! Some roots reach deep underground — as much as ft m — in search of water in the dry desert. Other roots grow laterally, only inches 2. Called rhizomes, these roots produce new shoots of genetically identically clones of the original Joshua tree!

Being able to clone itself can be an evolutionary advantage, allowing a Joshua tree population to recover more quickly in times of disaster like floods or fires. In some areas, cloning seems to be the primary way the Joshua trees reproduce. Elsewhere, they rely on wind or small animals who eat their fruit and then disperse its seeds across the desert. Joshua trees are tiny when compared to actual trees, but grow fairly large compared to most California desert vegetation.

The tallest Joshua trees grow as tall as 15m 49 ft and cm ft in diameter. When a mature Joshua tree blooms, it produces whitish-green or creamy yellow flowers. These flowers are bell-shaped and arranged in clusters. Unlike most flowers, the Joshua tree flowers produce a very unpleasant smell. In addition to its foul-smelling blooms, the Joshua tree produces a fleshy fruit. This fruit is green or brown in colour, oval shaped and filled with seeds.

Small rodents can climb the tree to eat the fruit before it dries up and falls to the ground. The wind may play another role, blowing the seeds around once the fruit has fallen to the ground. Innumerable animals feed on Joshua tree flowers, fruit, and seeds. However, the most remarkable denizens of the Joshua tree are tiny insects called yucca moths. Joshua trees produce no nectar, and very little pollen. They rely on the yucca moths for pollination.