[4][5][6][7] This monocotyledonous tree is native to the arid Southwestern United States, specifically California, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada, and northwestern Mexico.

[12] 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").

[18] 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.

[27] The trunk consists of thousands of small fibers and lacks annual growth rings, making determining the tree's age difficult.

The evergreen leaves are dark green, linear, bayonet-shaped, 15 to 35 cm long, and 7 to 15 mm broad at the base, tapering to a sharp point; they are borne in a dense spiral arrangement at the apex of the stems.

The Joshua tree is native to the southwestern United States (Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah) and northwestern Mexico.

[28] Joshua trees are one of the species predicted to have their range reduced and shifted by climate change.

[29] Concern remains that they will be eliminated from Joshua Tree National Park, with ecological research suggesting a high probability that their populations will be reduced by 90% of their current range by the end of the 21st century,[30][31][32][33] thus fundamentally transforming the ecosystem of the park.

Wildfires, invasive grasses and poor migration patterns for the trees' seeds are all additional factors in the species' imperilment.

[35] The study showed that the largest threat to Yucca brevifolia was wildfires, that wildfires were a threat to population density of prone areas but not to the limits of the range itself, that several population studies showed Yucca brevifolia was abundant, and that although the southern region of the species' range has been reduced, the trend is that the northern region has been expanding over the last 11,700 years as the North American ice cap melted, allowing the species to occupy its current range.

The review concluded: Based on the criteria described above, the best scientific information available to the Department at this time indicates that western Joshua tree is not in serious danger of becoming extinct throughout all, or a significant portion, of its range due to one or more causes, including loss of habitat, change in habitat, overexploitation, predation, competition, or disease, and is not likely to become an endangered species in the foreseeable future in the absence of special protection and management efforts required by CESA.In February 2023, California governor Gavin Newsom's administration proposed a budget trailer bill The Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act to focus on protecting the climate-threatened species and permitting development in the Southern California desert.

The legislation requires conservation plan for this and other species that may be threatened by climate change and would authorize the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to permit taking a western Joshua tree only under certain conditions.

[41] Prior to the twentieth century, Native Americans of the Mojave and western Sonoran Desert routinely used several parts of the Joshua tree as food and fiber (Cornett, J.W., 2018, Indian Uses of Desert Plants, Nature Trails Press, Palm Springs, CA).