Unlike most flowering plants that attract bees and butterflies, Joshua only pairs with Yucca moths throughout his long life of hundreds, even 1,000 years.

If you’ve ever been to the Mojave Desert in the US, you definitely can’t take your eyes off the Joshua trees bristling with long, sharp leaves like bayonets. On the barren background of rocks and sand, they appear menacing but also ravishingly beautiful.

It is an endemic plant of the American Southwest

Joshua has the scientific name Yucca brevifolia, which only grows in the Mojave desert, at altitudes from 400-1800m. Because it has long, narrow, hard and sharp leaves, this plant also has the Spanish name Izote de desierto, meaning “desert dagger”.

Joshua trees are endemic to the American Southwest.

The name Joshua was given around the 19th century by the Mormons. The shape of this tree is reminiscent of Joshua, the figure standing with his hand raised to give directions to the Israelites during the conquest of Canaan in the Bible.

The Mojave Desert, in addition to being famous for its driest climate and famous Death Valley, is also the only Joshua tree reserve in the world. Besides, this desert is also responsible for maintaining the life of 1,750-2,000 other plant species.

The name Joshua was given around the 19th century, by the Mormons.

The slowest tree in the world

Climb to an altitude of 400m above sea level in the Mojave, before your eyes will be the entire Joshua forest “dagger leaves” . Each of their leaf blades can be from 15-35cm long, but is only about 7-15mm wide, looking like sharp, dark green bayonets.

Not only are they long and sharp, the leaf edges also have incisors. Interestingly, from February to the end of April, this vicious plant blooms with beautiful flower clusters. This flower does not bloom every year. Depending on the desert’s rainfall conditions and the appropriate time, this plant will develop buds.

Flowers of the Joshua tree.

Normally, a baby Joshua tree will only grow one stem. It is not until they are mature and about to flower that they begin to branch out. However, in case the main stem is damaged for some reason, they will soon grow branches to replace it.

A special feature of Joshua trees is that they grow extremely slowly. During the first 10 years, a new Joshua tree only grows about 7.6cm/year. Since the 11th year, they grow even more slowly, only about 3.8cm/year.

The reason is also because the living environment is too harsh. Because Joshua grows in the desert, even though they have successfully dispersed the seeds, they still have to “look to the sky, look to the ground, look to the clouds” before they can germinate. Only when receiving a rare rain will the Joshua sprouts peel. If a seed is in a hurry to take root before it receives rain, it will never branch or bloom.

Joshua tree grows very slowly.

But in contrast to the slower growing stem, the roots soon penetrate deep and reach far into the ground. They can reach up to 11 meters from their roots. From these roots, a few Joshua children can also emerge, making the “big family” more and more crowded.

Above all, a Joshua tree can live for hundreds of years, even 1000 years. However, even though they are old, their height is not much better, at most they are only 15-20m tall.

A Joshua tree can live for hundreds of years, even 1000 years.

For animals living in the oppressive desert, the Joshua tree is like a perfect welfare system. Scott’s oriole birds enjoy building nests on tree branches. The rats chose Joshua’s base to dig a hole to hide. Many other animals rely on their shade to avoid the scorching sun outside.

Only faithful to the Yucca moth

Like all flowers with stamens and pistils, Joshua also needs help from pollinating insects. However, they only attract one species of Yucca moth.

Yucca is a butterfly that does not have an eye-catching appearance. But surprisingly, this moth has developed a tentacle snout instead of the familiar pointed proboscis. Thanks to that, they easily pollinate the Joshua tree. In return, it gives the butterflies full freedom to lay their eggs in the ovules. After emerging from the eggshell, the Yucca larvae will eat the newly formed Joshua fruit.

The reason the Joshua tree, despite the danger, “bets everything” on the Yucca moth’s house is because they are flowers that do not have nectar. Most insects hang around flowers because of the sweet nectar, not because of their beautiful appearance. Individual Yucca moths also do not come to Joshua flowers to feed. It comes to lay eggs.

Each Yucca that visits a Joshua flower will use its tentacle-like mouth to roll the chalk into tiny balls.

In fact, if it weren’t for Yucca, Joshua would have no way to maintain his lineage. Each Yucca that visits a Joshua flower will use its tentacle-like mouth to roll the chalk into tiny balls. After that, it carries that “pollen ball” to another Joshua flower that has not yet been laid eggs by its own species and sends it to the next generation, ready to pollinate the Joshua tree.

When Yucca larvae hatch, they will eat the young Joshua fruits. When mature, they crawl down to the base, burrow into the ground, pull cocoons, and wait for the next spring to continue the cycle.

As for Joshua, they will focus their efforts on nurturing the fruits that are not eaten by the Yucca worm. When the fruit is ripe, wind or wild animals will help them disperse the seeds.