Joshua palm lily
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Joshua palm lily ( Yucca brevifolia ) |
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The Joshua palm lily or Joshua tree ( Yucca brevifolia ) is a type of plant from the genus of the palm lily ( Yucca ) in the agave family (Agavaceae). The specific epithet brevifolia is derived from the Latin words brevis "short" and folius "leafy" and means "short-leafed". Its common English name is " Joshua Tree ".
The species, which occurs mainly in the Mojave Desert of the Joshua Tree National Park , reaches heights of growth of up to 15 meters. Together with the saguaro ( Carnegiea gigantea ) they are the symbols of the North American desert flora. Protected individuals are over 900 years old in the San Bernardino National Forest and Joshua Tree National Monument.
description
The Joshua palm lily grows solitary and forms a trunk 5 to 15 meters high. The trunk is 1 to 1.5 meters thick at the base. It branches out at a height of 2 to 3 meters. The sword-shaped, toothed, green leaves that are concave on the underside are 15 to 40 cm long and 0.5 to 1.6 cm wide. The leaf margins are horny. The dense inflorescence , which begins in the leaves, is branched, upright or inclined to the side , becomes 0.2 to 0.5 meters high. The flowering period is from March to May. The spherical to oval, white, cream-colored flowers are up to 3.5 cm long and 2 cm wide. Characteristic and unique in the genus is the crumbling of the ripe fruit. Specimens from the high mountain regions are frost hardy to minus 15 ° C. However, they are sensitive to moisture.
distribution
The Joshua palm lily is in the USA in the states of California , Arizona and Utah in the Mojave Desert , the Sonora Desert and the Great Basin Desert in plains, on stony slopes and in Pinyon-Juniper woodland at 400 to 1800 m Height spread. It grows together with Yucca schidigera , Yucca baccata , Yucca whipplei , Agave utahensis subsp. eborispina , Sclerocactus polyancistrus , Sclerocactus nyensis and numerous other cactus species.
Systematics
The description by the American botanist George Engelmann was published in 1871 in the eight-volume work of results for the US geological expedition started in 1867 at the 40th parallel (Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel). There are or were several synonyms in use:
- Cleistoyucca arborescens (Torrey) Trelease
- Cleistoyucca brevifolia (Engelmann) Rydberg
- Yucca arborescens (Torrey) Trelease
- Yucca draconis L. var. Arborescens Torrey
Fritz Hochstätter differentiates between the following subspecies :
- Yucca brevifolia subsp. brevifolia
- Yucca brevifolia subsp. jaegeriana ( McKelvey ) Hochstätter
- Yucca brevifolia subsp. herbertii ( Webber ) Hochstätter
She is the representative of the Clistocarpa section .
Danger
Joshua palm lily is one of the species that climate change is likely to reduce and shift its distribution. There is also concern that it will be eliminated entirely from Joshua Tree National Park . Ecological studies indicate that their populations will be reduced by 90% of their current range by the end of the 21st century. This would fundamentally change the park's ecosystem. There is also concern about the species' ability to migrate to favorable climates due to the extinction of the giant Shasta ground sloth ( Nothrotheriops shastensis, part of the Nothrotheriidae family ) 13,000 years ago. Ground sloth dung was found to contain leaves, fruits, and seeds of Joshua palm lilies, suggesting that the sloths may have been key to the trees' spread.
Others
The plant was named after passing members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), who compared the thin outstretched branches to the arms of the Old Testament popular leader Joshua , who showed the Israelites the way to the promised land.
The Irish rock band U2 named their fifth studio album, The Joshua Tree , released in 1987, after the striking plant. In December 1986, the band traveled with their photographer for three days to the California desert to search for a motif to design the record cover . The copy on the cover died in 2000 and has since fallen over.
In 1993 the film Joshua Tree appeared with Dolph Lundgren in the lead role. As early as 1994 the title was changed to Army of one in order to differentiate itself from the U2 album.
literature
- Yucca brevifolia . Fritz Hochstätter (Ed.): Yucca (Agavaceae) . Volume 2 In the Southwest, Midwest and East of the USA, Selbstverlag, 2002, pp. 40–44, photo material pp. 156–158, first description pp. 257–258, pp. 307–308, ISBN 3-00-009008- 8 .
Individual evidence
- ^ G. Gossard: The Joshua Tree, a Controversial, Contradictory Desert Centurion. Yellow Rose Publications, 1992.
- ↑ Sereno Watson et al., Botany [fortieth parallel] 496. 1871 (in Clarence King , US Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel Vol. 5)
- ↑ Mon. Bot. Gard. Ann. Rpt 13: 4th 1902.
- ↑ Flora Rocky Mountains and Adj. Plains, 170, 1917
- ↑ Mon. Bot. Gard. Ann. Rpt. 3: 163.1892
- ↑ Torrey, Pacific RR Rpt. 4: 147. 1857
- ^ Sarah L. Shafer, Patrick J. Bartlein, Robert S. Thompson: Potential Changes in the Distributions of Western North America Tree and Shrub Taxa under Future Climate Scenarios . In: Ecosystems . tape 4 , no. 3 , May 1, 2001, ISSN 1432-9840 , p. 200–215 , doi : 10.1007 / s10021-001-0004-5 ( springer.com [accessed April 23, 2020]).
- ↑ a b Kenneth L. Cole, Kirsten Ironside, Jon Eischeid, Gregg Garfin, Phillip B. Duffy: Past and ongoing shifts in Joshua tree distribution support future modeled range contraction . In: Ecological Applications . tape 21 , no. 1 , January 2011, ISSN 1051-0761 , p. 137-149 , doi : 10.1890 / 09-1800.1 ( wiley.com [accessed April 23, 2020]).
- ↑ a b Outlook Bleak for Joshua Trees. Retrieved April 23, 2020 (English).
- ↑ Maanvi Singh: 'It makes me angry': is this the end for America's Joshua trees? In: The Guardian . August 10, 2019, ISSN 0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed April 23, 2020]).
