Editing Yucca brevifolia (section)

==Taxonomy==
The Joshua tree is called "hunuvat chiy'a" or "humwichawa" by the indigenous [[Cahuilla]].<ref name="jtnp">{{cite web |title=Joshua Tree National Park |url=http://www.nps.gov/jotr/naturescience/jtrees.htm |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150304155541/https://nps.gov/jotr/learn/nature/jtrees.htm |archive-date=2015-03-04 |access-date=2023-07-30 |work=Nature and Science: Joshua Trees |publisher=[[National Park Service]]}}</ref>  It is also called ''izote de desierto'' (Spanish, "desert dagger").<ref name="ITIS">{{cite web |title=Yucca |url=https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=43116 |access-date=2012-03-30 |work=Itis Report |publisher=Integrated Taxonomic Information System}}</ref> It was first formally described in the botanical literature as ''Yucca brevifolia'' by [[George Engelmann]] in 1871 as part of the Geological Exploration of the 100th meridian (or "[[Wheeler Survey]]").<ref name="IPNI">{{cite web |title=''Yucca brevifolia'' Engelm. |url=http://www.ipni.org/ipni/idPlantNameSearch.do?id=543655-1&back_page=%2Fipni%2FeditSimplePlantNameSearch.do%3Ffind_wholeName%3DYucca%2Bbrevifolia%26output_format%3Dnormal |access-date=2008-12-20 |work=International Plant Names Index |publisher=[[Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew]]}}</ref>

The name "Joshua tree" is commonly said to have been given by a group of [[Mormon]] colonists crossing the Mojave Desert in the mid-19th century. The tree's role in guiding them through the desert combined with its unique shape reminded them of [[Conquest of Ai|a biblical story]] in which [[Joshua]] keeps his hands reached out for an extended period of time to enable the Israelites in their conquest of Canaan ({{bibleverse||Joshua|8:18–26|KJV}}).<ref name="jtnp">{{cite web |title=Joshua Tree National Park |url=http://www.nps.gov/jotr/naturescience/jtrees.htm |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150304155541/https://nps.gov/jotr/learn/nature/jtrees.htm |archive-date=2015-03-04 |access-date=2023-07-30 |work=Nature and Science: Joshua Trees |publisher=[[National Park Service]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=2019-08-26 |title=Joshua Tree National Park |url=http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/national-parks/joshua-tree-national-park/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100225084053/http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/national-parks/joshua-tree-national-park/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 25, 2010 |access-date=2013-05-27 |publisher=[[National Geographic Society]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.usanpn.org/cpp/YUBR |title= Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia) |work=  Meet the Species: All Species |publisher= The California Phenology Project, USA National Phenology Network |access-date= 2013-05-27 }}</ref> Further, the shaggy leaves may have provided the appearance of a beard.<ref>{{cite book |last=Peattie |first=Donald Culross |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LfH16XDaVSkC |title=A Natural History of Western Trees |publisher=[[Bonanza Books]] |others=Illustrated by Paul Landacre |year=1953 |isbn=9780395581759 |location=New York |page=304 |language=en |author-link=Donald C. Peattie}}</ref> However, no direct or contemporary attestation of this origin exists, and the name Joshua tree is not recorded until after Mormon contact;<ref name=jtnp/><ref>{{cite book |last=Zarki |first=Joseph |date=2015 |title=Joshua Tree National Park |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U2NWBwAAQBAJ |location=Charleston, South Carolina |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |page=28 |isbn= 9781467132817}}</ref> moreover, the physical appearance of the Joshua tree more closely resembles [[Rephidim|a similar story]] told of [[Moses]].<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Saunders |first=Charles Francis |date=1929 |title=Why Joshua Tree? |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yRAmAQAAMAAJ |magazine=Desert |access-date=January 11, 2019 |volume=1 |page=80 |quote=An application to Mr. [[Frederick Vernon Coville|Frederick V. Coville]], botanist of the Department of Agriculture, elicited the following response: 'The statement is often made that this name Joshua-tree was applied to ''Cleistoyucca brevifolia'' because it was this tree which led the Mormons through the desert. I have no means of knowing, however, whether this explanation is authentic or whether it was invented as an explanation of the name. It seems to me more likely that Joshua tree is a garbled Indian name' […] I asked Professor [[Marcus E. Jones]], whose knowledge of the desert flora is unsurpassed, and who has had a long acquaintance with members of the Mormon church. In reply, he kindly wrote as follows: 'The Mormon church officials do not know exactly the origin of the term, but assume that it is from the wide-spreading arms (branches) that in the night remind of the time when in battle Joshua had his arms held up to win a battle. This I got from one of the twelve apostles of the Mormon church.' Plausible as this explanation is, its value is more or less shaken when one finds, as I did after looking up the family Bible, that it was Moses, not Joshua, who had his arms held up during the battle, while Joshua conducted the fighting (Ex. 17:8–13). There is, however, another account of a fight, which may be what the Mormon apostle had in mind. It is told in the book of Joshua 7:18–26 [sic].}}</ref>

Ranchers and miners who were contemporaneous with the Mormon immigrants used the trunks and branches as fencing and for fuel for ore-processing steam engines.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jane |first1=Rodgers |title=Vegetation Specialist |url=https://www.nps.gov/jotr/learn/nature/jtrees.htm |website=Joshua Tree |access-date=6 October 2020}}</ref>

In addition to the [[Autonym (botany)|autonymic]] [[subspecies]] ''Y. b.'' subsp. ''brevifolia'', two other subspecies have been described:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yuccaagavaceae.com/species.html |title=Yucca species |publisher=Yuccaagavaceae.com |access-date=2012-03-30}}</ref> ''Y. b.'' subsp. ''herbertii'' (Webber's yucca or Herbert Joshua tree) and ''Y. b.'' subsp. ''jaegeriana'' (the Jaeger Joshua tree or Jaeger's Joshua tree or pygmae yucca), though both are sometimes treated as [[Variety (botany)|varieties]]<ref name=ITIS/><ref name=Grandtner2005>{{Cite book| last = Grandtner | first = Miroslav M.| year = 2005| title = Elsevier's Dictionary of Trees - North America| page = 973| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yjc5ZYWtkNAC&q=Yucca+brevifolia&pg=PA973| isbn = 978-0-444-51784-5| publisher = Elsevier | location = Amsterdam
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Magney |first=David L. |date=2005-09-19 |title=Checklist of Ventura County Rare Plants |url=http://www.cnpsci.org/html/PlantInfo/ChecklistofVenturaCountyRarePlants-19Sep2005.pdf |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060212160318/http://www.cnpsci.org/html/PlantInfo/ChecklistofVenturaCountyRarePlants-19Sep2005.pdf |archive-date=2006-02-12 |access-date=2023-07-30 |website=California National Plant Society, Channel Islands Chapter}}</ref> or [[Form (botany)|forms]].<ref name=Egglid2001>{{cite book | last = Eggli | first =  Urs | year = 2001 | title = Monocotyledons  | pages = 90–91, 100 | isbn = 978-3-540-41692-0 | publisher = Springer | location = Berlin }}</ref> ''Y.b.'' subsp. ''jaegeriana'' has also been treated as its own species.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lenz|first=Lee|date=2007-07-25|title=Reassessment of Yucca brevifolia and Recognition of Y. jaegeriana as a Distinct Species|url=https://scholarship.claremont.edu/aliso/vol24/iss1/7|journal=Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany|volume=24|issue=1|pages=97–104|doi=10.5642/aliso.20072401.07|issn=0065-6275|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite iucn |author=Esque, T.C. |author2=DeFalco, L.A. |author3=Hodgson, W. |author4=Salywon, A. |author5=Puente, R. |author6=Clary, K. |date=2020 |title=''Yucca jaegeriana'' |volume=2020 |page=e.T162386466A162386497 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T162386466A162386497.en |access-date=18 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=NatureServe Explorer 2.0 |url=https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.156126/Yucca_jaegeriana |website=explorer.natureserve.org |access-date=31 March 2022}}</ref>