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Flora
Mojave
California
Cactus
Fauna
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![Joshua Tree](P1030587.jpg) |
This information comes from the National Parks Service.
By the mid 19th century, Mormon migrants had made
their way
across the Colorado River. Legend has it that these pioneers named the
tree after the prophet Joshua, seeing the Joshua tree limbs
outstretched in supplication, guiding the travelers westward.
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![Joshua Tree flowers](P1030606.jpg) |
Spring rains may bring clusters of white green
flowers on the long
stocks at branch tips. Like all desert blooms, Joshua trees depend on
just the perfect conditions: well timed rains and for the Joshua tree,
a crisp winter freeze. Researchers believe that below freezing
temperatures may damage the growing end of a branch and stimulate
flowering followed by branching. Some Joshua trees grow straight
stalks; these trees have never bloomed, which is why they are
branchless. In addition to ideal weather, the pollination of flowers
requires a visit from the yucca moth. The moth collects pollen while
laying her eggs inside the flower ovary. As seeds develop and mature,
the eggs hatch into larvae which feed on the seeds. The tree relies on
the moth for pollination and the moth relies on the tree for a few
seeds for her young, a happy symbiosis. The Joshua tree is also capable
of sprouting from roots and branches. Being able to reproduce
vegetatively allows a much quicker recovery after damaging floods or
fires which may kill the main tree.
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![Joshua Tree Fruit](P1030666.jpg) |
The Joshua tree's life cycle begins with the rare
germination
of a seed, its survival dependent upon well timed rains. Young sprouts
may grow several inches in the first five years, then slow down,
averaging one half inch per year thereafter. The tallest Joshua tree in
the Joshua Tree National Park looms a whopping forty feet high, a grand
presence in the
Queen Valley forest; it is estimated to be over nine hundred years old.
These "trees" do not have growth rings like you would find in an oak or
pine. This makes aging difficult, but you can divide the height of a
Joshua tree by the average annual growth of one half inch to get a
rough estimate. |
Some seeds are eaten, and some drop and may make new
trees.. The only thing that pollinates this tree is the yucca
moth, and they lay their eggs in the flower. Then the larvae eat
the seeds. |
![Joshua Tree - fruit gone](P1030665.jpg) |
Birds like the view from the
branches. |
![Joshua Tree with perching bird](P1030598.jpg) |
This tree grows abundantly at Joshua Tree
National Park in California and Joshua Forest Parkway in Western
Arizona.
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