Joshua Tree

California Desert Preserve

Thanks to Wikipedia for the following …

“The name Joshua tree was given by a band of Mormons who crossed the Mojave Desert in the mid-19th century. The tree's unique shape reminded them of a Biblical story in which Joshua reaches his hands up to the sky. Ranchers and miners who were contemporary with the Mormon immigrants also took advantage of the Y. brevifolia using the trunks and branches as fencing and for fuel for ore processing steam engines.”