Walter
10-14-2011, 04:12 AM
Wild and unkempt in appearance, the Joshua tree has little to offer modern man in terms of food and industrial uses. However, its radical nature remains a beloved symbol of the Mojave Desert, reminding us that this, the smallest of the American arid zones, is unique and yet diverse.
The scientific name, yucca brevifolia, roughly translates as short-leaved yucca. Not truly a tree, but rather a large flowering plant, it was described originally by George Engelmann in 1871 as part of the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel.
The common name is said to have come from Mormon pioneers naming it after the biblical leader, Joshua, as it reminded them of the hero raising out-stretched arms toward the heavens.
Before the name for this eccentric tree became commonly known:
Pedro Fages, the first Military Governor of Alta California, entered the Mojave in the 1770s skirting along the foothills north of the San Gabriel Mountains in search of deserters and runaway Indians. In his letters he referred to the Joshua as palm trees.
In 1834, explorer Joseph Reddeford Walker, in search of a passage to Salt Lake, mentions one of these strange trees. He and his men took to liking it and named it Jeremiah.
William Lewis Manly & John Rogers were members of the Bennett-Arcane party, who became lost in Death Valley in 1849. They managed to make their way over 200 miles to civilization, and after loading up a horse and one-eyed mule with supplies, walked back to rescue those still stranded. Years later in his account of the adventure, Manly recalled these odd-looking trees as, “cabbage trees”.
I’ve heard a story about how the Beanery restaurant in Kelso Depot, in what is now the Mojave National Preserve, had a problem keeping waitresses. They’d come and work for awhile, meet a willing bachelor, get married, and head off for their future and family. One newly-hired girl while riding the train to this remote location was watching the trees as they passed by. She asked the conductor, “What kind of trees are those?” He glanced out the window and replied, “Pineapple trees.”
Yucca palm, tree yucca, and palm tree yucca, are other names that seem to be diminishing in use as our knowledge of the desert becomes more homogeneous. I haven’t heard these used in casual conversation in decades—and I try to pay attention to, The Things I Hear.
http://aeve.com/1n/2011/10/347-joshua-trees-j6778.jpg
Joshua trees stretching in the morning sun
-
I'm hoping that by making these shorter, I can make them better.
The scientific name, yucca brevifolia, roughly translates as short-leaved yucca. Not truly a tree, but rather a large flowering plant, it was described originally by George Engelmann in 1871 as part of the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel.
The common name is said to have come from Mormon pioneers naming it after the biblical leader, Joshua, as it reminded them of the hero raising out-stretched arms toward the heavens.
Before the name for this eccentric tree became commonly known:
Pedro Fages, the first Military Governor of Alta California, entered the Mojave in the 1770s skirting along the foothills north of the San Gabriel Mountains in search of deserters and runaway Indians. In his letters he referred to the Joshua as palm trees.
In 1834, explorer Joseph Reddeford Walker, in search of a passage to Salt Lake, mentions one of these strange trees. He and his men took to liking it and named it Jeremiah.
William Lewis Manly & John Rogers were members of the Bennett-Arcane party, who became lost in Death Valley in 1849. They managed to make their way over 200 miles to civilization, and after loading up a horse and one-eyed mule with supplies, walked back to rescue those still stranded. Years later in his account of the adventure, Manly recalled these odd-looking trees as, “cabbage trees”.
I’ve heard a story about how the Beanery restaurant in Kelso Depot, in what is now the Mojave National Preserve, had a problem keeping waitresses. They’d come and work for awhile, meet a willing bachelor, get married, and head off for their future and family. One newly-hired girl while riding the train to this remote location was watching the trees as they passed by. She asked the conductor, “What kind of trees are those?” He glanced out the window and replied, “Pineapple trees.”
Yucca palm, tree yucca, and palm tree yucca, are other names that seem to be diminishing in use as our knowledge of the desert becomes more homogeneous. I haven’t heard these used in casual conversation in decades—and I try to pay attention to, The Things I Hear.
http://aeve.com/1n/2011/10/347-joshua-trees-j6778.jpg
Joshua trees stretching in the morning sun
-
I'm hoping that by making these shorter, I can make them better.