Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia)

Joshua Trees have a woody, tree-like structure with evergreen leaves that are like bayonets (extremely sharp) at the tip. Though they are unbranched when they are young, they generally branch when they are older and more mature (more than 3 feet high). Joshua Trees are found in dry desert flats and on slopes from about 2000 feet to about 6000 feet. Joshua Trees can grow to 30 ft. tall and live for hundreds of years.

The Joshua Tree’s habitat is primarily the Mojave Desert across Southern California, but it is also found in southwest Utah, southern Nevada, and western Arizona. It can grow in dense groups suggesting woodlands. (1)

Joshua Trees are a valuable resource in the landscape because of the wildlife they support. In the desert, they are a critical habitat for many small creatures such as pack rats and the Yucca night lizard, who may nest in holes in the trunk or in the litter at the base of the Joshua. Flickers, wrens, woodpeckers, flycatchers and titmice use the Joshua Tree for nesting in an otherwise bleak landscape.(2)

Joshua Tree leaves appear in dense clusters at the tip of its branches. The dagger-like leaves are sturdy and sharply pointed at the tip—dangerous to the touch! Older leaves dry up and point downward along the trunk or branch, and remain equally dangerous to handle. This prevents animals from climbing the trunk.  New leaves emerge from the growing tip.

Joshua Trees typically don’t branch until they are decades into their lives, and according to a dear reader “Joshua trees usually do not branch until after they bloom (though branching may also occur if the growing tip is destroyed by the yucca-boring weevil ), and they do not bloom every year. Like most desert plants, their blooming depends on rainfall at the proper time. They also need a winter freeze before they bloom.” (Thank you bahodur1980@gmail.com)

Thus, tall Joshuas that have many branches may be over 100 years old.

Joshua Tree Flowers

Creamy-white flower clusters form at the tip of branches from February to late April. They dry into clusters of large seed pods, and when dry, the black seeds can be harvested and used to sprout new trees.

Joshua Trees are pollinated by the yucca moth while laying eggs inside the fertilized flower. Larvae eat the seeds as they develop, but many more seeds are produced than are eaten, so any seed pod will likely have viable seeds.  Pods dry to a creamy off-white color with a tough skin. Seeds are jet black when mature.  One pod can produce more than 50 seeds.

Seeds are relatively easy to sprout if you know how. Visit our page on how to sprout Joshua Tree Seeds!

Joshuas grow painfully slowly but are an extremely hardy plant given the conditions that they tolerate in the desert — blazing sun, blistering heat, complete lack of moisture, sometimes for months.

Joshua Trees are fast-growing when they are young (under 10 years old), but slow to an inch a year in some cases, when they are older (3 years+).  If they survive the first years, they can live for hundreds of years and branch into extremely large trees. “Fast-growing” is a relative term, of course. Plants that are up to 5 years old may still be only 6 inches tall. They are tough as nails in the environment, and can survive in a gallon can (pot) with almost complete neglect (for example, watering every 3 weeks or once a month in the summertime). This is not to say that this is a good way to treat them, but going on vacation with many pots of Joshua Trees is usually not a problem.

1. The Jepson Desert Manual: Vascular Plants of Southeastern California. Bruce G. Baldwin, …[et. al.], editors. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: The Regents of the University of California, c 2002.

2. Dole, Jim W. and Betty B. Rose. Shrubs and Trees of the Southern California Deserts. North Hills, CA: Foot Loose Press, c 1996.