By special request (from a conversation with a friend on the weekend), here's an infrared photograph of Yucca brevifolia (along with a non-IR photograph of the inflorescence).
Joshua trees have made a previous appearance on BPotD in a brief entry on Joshua Tree National Park. In the comments section, Bill Hooker of Open Reading Frame suggested this article by Chris Clarke on Creek Running North: Joshua trees and extinction. In a bit of coincidence, during the same month that Chris wrote his piece, a journal article came out that suggested things are a bit more hopeful for the Joshua tree than was thought at the time. See: Vander Wall et al. 2006. Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) seeds are dispersed by seed-caching rodents. Ecoscience. 13(4): 539-543.
Since it's a well-known plant from California (and also Arizona, Utah, Nevada and Baja California), excellent resources for more information exist: Calphotos, the Fire Effects Information System factsheet, and the Flora of North America: Yucca brevifolia.
WOW. I *never* get tired of those IR shots!
Time to dig out that classic U2 album!
;->
How lovely. Now I shall go and read about these plants. I just enjoy this web site so much. Thank you.
i live in florida and had something
they call yuccas i used as a fence
the blossoms are much the same
grew quite tall an off shoot perhaps
interesting as always thank you
What is that white gunk all over the upper set of flowers in the lower pictures? I've seen quite a few Joshua Tree flowers now but I have never seen that white stuff. Is it some sort of mold attacking the flowers?
RSVP, thanks.
Are there any of these at UBC? I think I see them in some Seattle locations. It didn't really sink in until recently that they were probably this species - short leaves at the tops of trunks - although the dead leaves don't seem to persist and coat the stems for years. But that may not be a disqualifier, people may be cleaning them off or it may not be a consistent characteristic.
Ron, it's been a while since you posted your comment, but I'll answer anyway: what you see is probably New Zealand cabbage (tree)/false dracaena, Cordyline australis. I't commonly planted and much more cold-hardy and persistent in the PNW.
Ron, I'd love you know where you have seen these in Seattle. I found a small one in Bremerton. I've never seen any local nurseries carrying them, though.
No, I wasn't talking about Cordyline australis - I am quite familiar with that. It is very common here, despite not being cold-hardy and persistent - except when coming back from the roots.
Or growing in a spot that lets it think it's in USDA 9.