Plant Species List

Joshua Tree National Park has over 750 documented plant species, representing approximately 12% of the California Flora and 33% of the taxa within the California desert region. The floristic richness of this area is greatly enhanced by the high percentage of annual species, which represent 47% of the species. Another important contributor to the floristic richness at Joshua Tree is the many species that flower in the summer or fall season, for example, 5% of the flora consists of summer annuals-species that only respond to summer rains.

 

Family	Species	Common Name	Nativity	Habit
Acanthaceae	Justicia californica	beloperone	Native	shrub
Adoxaceae	Sambucus nigra ssp. caerulea	blue elderberry	Native	shrub
Agavaceae	Agave deserti var. deserti	desert agave	Native	shrub
Agavaceae	Hesperocallis undulata	desert lily	Native	perennial
Agavaceae	Yucca brevifolia	Joshua tree	Native	shrub/tree
Agavaceae	Yucca schidigera	Mojave yucca	Native	shrub/tree
Aizoaceae	Trianthema portulacastrum	desert horsepurslane	Native	annual
Alliaceae	Allium denticulatum	toothed wild onion	Native	perennial bulb
Alliaceae	Allium fimbriatum var. fimbriatum	fringed onion	Native	perennial bulb
Alliaceae	Allium parishii	Parish's onion	Native	perennial
Amaranthaceae	Amaranthus albus	prostrate pigweed	Non-native	annual
Amaranthaceae	Amaranthus blitoides	mat amaranth	Native	annual
Amaranthaceae	Amaranthus fimbriatus	fringed amaranth	Native	annual
Amaranthaceae	Amaranthus torreyi	Torrey's amaranth	Native	annual
Amaranthaceae	Tidestromia suffruticosa var. oblongifolia	shrubby honeysweet	Native	perennial
Anacardiaceae	Rhus aromatica	fragrant sumac	Native	shrub
Apiaceae	Bowlesia incana	hoary bowlesia	Native	annual
Apiaceae	Cyclospermum leptophyllum	marsh parsley	Non-native	annual
Apiaceae	Cymopterus panamintensis var. actuifolius	Panamint springparsley	Native	perennial
Apiaceae	Lomatium mohavense	Mojave desertparsley	Native	perennial
Apiaceae	Tauschia parishii	Parish's umbrellawort	Native	perennial
Apocynaceae	Amsonia tomentosa	woolly bluestar	Native	subshrub
Apocynaceae	Asclepias albicans	whitestem milkweed	Native	shrub
Apocynaceae	Asclepias erosa	desert milkweed	Native	perennial
Apocynaceae	Asclepias fascicularis	Mexican whorled milkweed	Native	perennial
Apocynaceae	Asclepias subulata	rush milkweed	Native	perennial
Apocynaceae	Funastrum cynanchoides var hartwegii	Hartweg's twinevine	Native	perennial
Apocynaceae	Funastrum hirtellum	hairy milkweed	Native	perennial
Apocynaceae	Funstrum utahense	Utah swallowwort	Native	perennial
Apocynaceae	Matelea parvifolia	spearleaf	Native	perennial

 

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Species Attribute Definitions

Definitions

Occurrence

Occurrence values are defined below. One or more Occurrence Tags may be associated with each Occurrence value.

Present: Species occurs in park; current, reliable evidence available.

Probably Present: High confidence species occurs in park but current, verified evidence needed.

Unconfirmed: Species is attributed to park but evidence is weak or absent.

Not In Park: Species is not known to occur in park.

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Occurrence Tags

Adjacent: Species is known to occur in areas near to or contiguous with park boundaries.

False Report: Species was reported to occur within the park, but current evidence indicates the report was based on misidentification, a taxonomic concept no longer accepted, or other similar problem of error or interpretation.

Historical: Species' historical occurrence in park is documented. Assigned based on judgment as opposed to determination based on age of the most recent evidence.

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Abundance

Abundant:

• Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, and counted in relatively large numbers.
• Plants: Large number of individuals; wide ecological amplitude or occurring in habitats covering a large portion of the park.

Common:

• Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, but not in large numbers.
• Plants: Large numbers of individuals predictably occurring in commonly encountered habitats but not those covering a large portion of the park.

Uncommon:

• Animals: Likely to be seen monthly in appropriate habitat and season. May be locally common.
• Plants: Few to moderate numbers of individuals; occurring either sporadically in commonly encountered habitats or in uncommon habitats.

Rare:

• Animals: Present, but usually seen only a few times each year.
• Plants: Few individuals, usually restricted to small areas of rare habitat.

Occasional:

• Animals: Occurs in the park at least once every few years, varying in numbers, but not necessarily every year.
• Plants: Abundance variable from year to year (e.g., desert plants).

Unknown: Abundance unknown

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Nativeness

Native: Species naturally occurs in park or region.

Non-native: Species occurs on park lands as a result of deliberate or accidental human activities.

Unknown: Nativeness status is unknown or ambiguous.

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List Differences

The Checklist contains only those species that are designated as "present" or "probably present" in the park.

The Full List includes all the checklist species in addition to species that are unconfirmed, historically detected, or incorrectly reported as being found in the park. The full list also contains species that are "in review" because their status in the park hasn't been fully determined. Additional details about the status of each species is included in the full list.

The checklist will almost always contain fewer species than the full list.

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