A surreal branching yucca of the Mojave Desert, with spiky leaf rosettes that pivot toward the sun and ivory flower spikes pollinated by a single moth.
Where it grows
The Joshua tree is endemic to the Mojave Desert of southeastern California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah, and northwestern Arizona, between roughly 600 and 1800 metres elevation. Its distribution traces the Mojave almost perfectly and gives Joshua Tree National Park its name.
How to recognise it
A Joshua tree is unmistakable: stout fibrous trunk topped by candelabra branches that fork irregularly, each tipped with a dense ball of spiky, bayonet-shaped grey-green leaves. Cream-white flower spikes, up to 50 centimetres tall, emerge from the leaf rosettes only after sufficient winter cold and rain — not every year.
Uses
For desert peoples the Joshua tree was a source of fibre (woven into sandals and baskets), seeds (eaten roasted), and flower buds (cooked as a vegetable). Today the tree is purely iconic — appearing on the U2 album cover that took its name and on countless Mojave horizon photographs.
Conservation
The Joshua tree depends entirely on the tiny yucca moth (Tegeticula) for pollination — the only insect that pollinates it. Climate change is pushing summers above the species’ tolerance, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been weighing federal endangered listing for several years.