Arizona Desert Trees: Joshua Tree Forest. Grand Canyon West
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| source: Friends of Arizona Joshua Tree Forest |
I hope that January is treating you well. Here in T.O. We could do with a bit of more sun light. It's been gloomy for so long. Today I want to show you a very unique tree from my visit to the Arizona Desert, the Joshua Tree.
If you read my last post you know that I spent the end of December visiting the Arizona Desert and the Grand Canyon West for the first time. I took the first photo above from my bus window seat. Of course the tour bus was in motion. Although it is blurry (sorry about that) you can see the tree forest and landscape. Sadly, our bus tour did not make a stop at the Arizona Joshua Tree Desert Forest on our way to the Grand Canyon West.
Mormon settlers named this tree Joshua. They saw in the tree a striking, human-like shape. It was reminiscent of the biblical figure Joshua by the 19th-century reaching up to the sky in prayer. The Joshua figure guided Mormon settlers along their journey though the west with its stretched out tree limbs.
I linked the second photo above from Friends of Arizona Joshua Tree Forest. A very good one for you to appreciate and see this beautiful tree. By the way, this is a site that you should become interested in these type of trees as I am is a must to visit.
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| source: The Environmentor |
Joshua trees (Yucca Brevifolia) are the largest Yucca in the world. I linked this fabulous close up image above from The Environmentor site for you to take a good look at it. This huge Yucca is called a tree because of the size.
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| source: Friends of Arizona Joshua Tree Forest |
The Joshua tree is very unique and can live from 150 to 200 years! Isn't this amazing? They are about 50 feet tall. Plants and trees generally do not grow very fast in the desert. But the Joshua trees grow about 3 centimeters (1.1811 inches) per year during their first ten years. That is awesome!
See this critter on the photo above? I linked it from the Friends of Arizona Joshua Tree Forest site for you. This is the Yucca Moth, who has a co-dependent relationship with the Joshua Tree. See, this critter eats exclusively its seeds and in return pollinates it. The exist for each other! A perfect relationship.
Read much more about it on their site.
What to see other plants I saw at the Grand Canyon West? Visit my previous post.
Happy travels!
