The hot, harsh, rocky landscape is home to a rare and strange-looking tree. In fact, the park gets its name from this iconic plant. Welcome to Joshua Tree National Park, in southeastern California. The limbs of Joshua Trees stretch and twist upward in all directions. At the end of each limb are sharply pointed green leaves. The plant looks like a large cactus, and can grow over 12 meters tall. But, as the National Park Service explains, Joshua Trees are not really even trees. They are succulents that belong to the yucca family. Succulents are desert plants can hold a lot of water inside them. Joshua Trees are not exactly beautiful. An early explorer to the area once described them as “the most repulsive tree in the vegetable kingdom.” But park visitors are amazed by the wild-looking forests of Joshua trees.