JOSHUA TREE. TREE YUCCA (Yucca arborescens, Ton-.). 

 Flowers white, rather ill-smelling, and borne in panicles at 

 the branch tips, much less noticeable than the plant itself, 

 which is a small, grotesque tree, sometimes just a trunk with 

 an odd limb or two, but in its best development 25 or 30 feet 

 high, with numerous angular, clumsy branches. The dagger- 

 like leaves are olive green bunched at the extremities of the 

 limbs, and at first stand up straight. Gradually, however, 

 they lose their uprightness, and when dead they are reflexed 

 against the limb, forming a brownish thatch which is a protec- 

 on against sand and hot wind. Desert folk call it Joshua 

 Tree, Yucca Palm, and Yucca Cactus the last two needlessly 

 inaccurate, for it is neither Palm nor Cactus, and is a Yucca. 



The spongy, fibrous wood, useless for ordinary purposes, is 

 particularly suited for the manufacture of artificial limbs and 

 surgeon's splints, and within the last couple of years the wood 

 has been cut in great quantities to be used in the war hospitals 

 of Europe. 



The tree is confined to parts of the Mojave Desert of Cali- 

 fornia, Southern Nevada, and Southwestern Utah, often form- 

 ing straggling forests on the arid plains and hillsides. 



